When All Else Fails
by Faking-Sweet
Summary: everything was perfect; I was about to graduate from elementary school, my chara's hadn't performed any surprise character changes, and my step-siblings seemed on relitivaly good terms with me. But then I realised something... I'm an idiot. OC story
1. Everything will be great

**First New update! This chapter is completely re-done, and seriously tell me what you think! I'm trying to make the beginning of the story move at a better pace, but still end up where my last chapter already is. I'm also defining character more- because through this story I've just been creating personalities as I go. This time I can really work on them.**

**But, enjoy!!**

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When the world was at peace, I was happy. When I opened my eyes in bed, that one morning, I was content. Not a single car drove down our street, not a single bird made its loud and annoying cry; not a single soul, disturbed the perfect world. The sun seeped through my blinds, and missed my eyes by inches, it was enough to tell to me wake up, but that I still had time to sleep in. It was Saturday, and it was my perfect world.

Something beeped, loudly. Destroying my perfect state. And I groaned.  
The beeping continued. Like a string, each beeped followed another, making an infuriating melody. I rolled over in bed, and saw the lights flashing on my landline. I quickly focused on the blue and white wall clock behind it. Which told me it was only 7 am. Whoever it was would just have to go to voicemail.

When the beeping and ringing finally stopped, I breathed out a calm sigh, and closed my eyes again. But, the world just wasn't as good now that I was completely awake; the newly married couple who lived next door to us were fighting again. There was a bird throwing a tantrum in the tree outside. The sun was slowly heating my bed, making me sweat. And even more upfront, I could hear footsteps. Loud, rushing beats coming from the staircase, as someone was coming up; soon enough I could hear breathing, and then, finally, there was the clicking of someone not-so-gently opening my door. And then I had to do it, someone was in my room- they may not have said anything, but someone was there, and I just had to open my eyes.

Joko-chan was my full-time nanny. The great thing about her, and weekends, was that she always made me a huge breakfast. And when I saw her in the doorway, a wooden spoon in her hand, her apron half undone, and a phone pressed to her shoulder, I knew she had been halfway through cooking up when she'd picked up the phone.

"Kana-chan" she whispered when I fully opened my eyes. I groaned. "Kana-chan, its Saturday, why didn't you answer the phone!?"

"I didn't know it was my job to answer the phone and Saturdays," I answered, pulling the covers further up. The sun was making my bed feel more like a sauna.

"It isn't, but _this_ Saturday" she hinted, tilting her head down to the phone.

"I can't be going _this_ Saturday Joko" I yawned; the clock told me it was only five past. "It hasn't been two weeks yet."

"Kana-chan, last weekend you went ice-skating with your friends, remember? It's defiantly been two weeks. You said you were going to tell him last time, remember? And you didn't, you need to tell him now!" She threw the phone at me, and I nearly fell off my bed catching it. Sitting up straight, I stared at the speaker for a moment, slowly pressing it to my ear.

"Hello?" I whispered, hoping he hadn't heard any of our conversation.

"How do you expect me to rely on you, when you can't even remember what week it is?" The director asked, I could hear the groan he was trying to push out.

"I...Uh...Um" I stuttered, looking to Joko who muttered '_tell him!_' "I'm sorry."

"You're on flight B617, at ten o'clock. Got that?" I nodded, and uttered an 'uh-huh.' And he hung up.

I clutched the speaker with both hands, just listening to the dial tone. Why'd he book a flight so early? Why couldn't he ever give me more notice? I looked up to Joko, who sighed.

"You didn't tell him" she said sorrowfully

"I'm sorry" I apologised.

"If you'd told him, he might have let you stay another week, to say goodbye."

"I know"

"You realise. I won't be able to move up here with you? Straight away at least. You'll be on your own for five, maybe six weeks?" She lectured,

"I know"

"You'll have to pack extra today. Just tell him when you get up there. Your flight's soon isn't it? Let's get started." While I was still sitting in bed, Joko unknotted her apron, and put both it and the spoon on my desk. She quickly pulled a suitcase from my wardrobe, and began throwing clothes in.

"But I don't know what to tell him," I said to her, climbing out of bed as slowly as I could get away with. Joko looked at me, and I pulled a red shirt out of the suite case, that I never actually wore anyway, "That's why I haven't told him yet, because I don't know what to say... Probably because I don't want to say it..." As soon as I told him, I knew I'd never be able to come back, or not for a long time at least...

"Oh Kana" Joko smiled at me as I played with the hem of the red shirt. It was so ugly... Why did I even own it? "I'm sure that when you get there, standing in that big Easter office, with that brute facing you... Everything will just come." I laughed, it was true, the director was a brute.

There was a silence, when I walked over and sat on my bed- I could feel the heat from the sun radiating from it. Everything seemed peaceful for a moment again.

"I'm gonna miss you Joko" I finally smiled. Joko was packing scarfs and gloves into my suitcase,

"It'll only be for a couple of weeks, I told you that... But, just remember, the longer you take to tell him, the longer you'll have to survive on your own."

"I know" the words were becoming repetitive.

"So don't think about it. Just, help me pack, and we'll send you off." I was still sitting on my bed when Joko dropped what she was doing, and took a seat next to me, wrapping me in the kind of loving hug I hadn't had for a while.  
"Everything will be fine." She whispered,

_It'll be great._

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**xx- J**


	2. B is for Beginnings

Stepping off the plane, I took my time down the small tunnel leading out. Trying to find the right words, the words which had never come to me for 14 years, trying to find myself at the same time, the self I knew others wanted. The others I had to please,

The airport itself was warmer than the plane, but not by much. But I tried not to focus on silly details like that, I needed to focus, there were people around me who expected my character, and I was the only one who could give it to them…

"Kana?" I glanced quickly, the voice sounded as though it was in my head. But I knew the truth, and I didn't reply. "Kana, your right" it told me again; I spun my head around, finally setting eyes on the people I was looking for. Two large men, very, very large, were standing side by side- both wearing 'casual gear' which consisted of the same pair of board-shorts and the exact same cheap, Hawaiian, souvenir T-shirt. Finally my character just came to me; it was no longer a burden I needed to run through. I dropped my face and pulled back my shoulders to give my 'cool and strong' character. My outside character though. I couldn't say I minded, I had to use it nearly every second weekend, my outside character drew attention, gave me a certain edge. Just what the others wanted.

"Kana… Yanishna?" The larger (very, very, very large) of the two badly, dressed men asked. I folded my arms and nodded, giving no emotion to my eyes. "Kana-chan" the man nodded, stepping aside to make a space between him and the less large man, he held his hand to the side, signaling me through.

"My bags are taken care of?" I sighed in usual routine. The man, who I had never met before, nodded, touching me on my back lightly to signal me to keep walking.

"They are being loaded as we speak. Please follow us to the car" his words were spoken individually and slowly, like a robot. I did as I was told and followed the less-large man in front, with the larger man behind me, words still running through my head at an alarming pace.

Outside I found that my ride was in the usual form of a black hummer. Something sure to draw attention to the unsuspecting people of Japan; I felt the same urge I always had to pull my long, black hair up into two high pig-tails, my silhouette in the car taking on the image of someone much higher status than me.

"Utau we love you!" The fans would scream, running past and beside the car, mistaking me for their idol. It would be fun; maybe I could even record it for her. But I had too much on my mind to waste myself with silly games.

Opening the car door, I caught sight of the struggling air-port employee, as he tried desperately to lift my bags into the back of the car. I reached forward to help him, before I remembered where I was, and who was around me, and I pulled my hand away. Sliding into the back seat of the car instead

"Kana?" The voice asked and, again, I was startled. I blinked before putting on my seatbelt

"I'm fine" I whispered, dismissing the voices- the world around me quickly fell silent again. I glanced into the rear-view mirror to glance back at the worker, who now had the help of two other employees'- with one last burst of energy they managed to stuff my bag in and close the boot. The car couldn't have taken off more quickly, even leaving one workers to stumble over his own feet in surprise. "There is no rush" I tried to tell larger-of-two men who had taken the wheel,

"Your flight landed later than expected Miss" smaller-of-two men told me, not even bothering to glance at me through the mirror. I suddenly felt miniscule compared to the world around me, my seat seemed to grow, everything bigger and more important than me. "We like to report to the director promptly, please excuse us if we seem rushed" he continued, finally glancing at me through the mirror. I didn't show any expression but the world came back to size when my presence was acknowledged again.

"If you must" was the best reply I could run though my mind.

"Upon arriving, you will be met in the main deck, and then to be accompanied up, you are expected at the main office within five minutes of your arrival." Smaller-or-two men continued to speak. I clenched my jaw at the orders. My side-pack nudged. "I am to trust that you will follow these orders to the limit?" he said sharply, looking through the mirror again. But I refused to meet his gaze. My pack nudged again

"The orders I do and do not follow are of no concern to you, may I say sir." I told smaller-of-two men, still not meeting his eyes "but if it should help you sleep better, you may report that following orders is a natural trait of mine." It nudged again. "So there is no reason for any to be concerned upon my arrival" I made my tone sharp, angry and finally fell to meet his eyes. Smaller-of-two men quickly darted away,

"Of course miss" he choked.

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I don't know if you've ever seen it before. But Easter is a big building. And I mean big, like, big enough to make Larger-of-two men look like an ant.

It is very big.

"Miss?" Larger-of-two men prompted me from back inside the car. I gulped and turned, "You bags will be at your usual arrival destination" I nodded, and if I hadn't known any better I would have thought he had smiled at me.

Good thing I did know better.

I glided through the front revolving door, glances being cast at me from familiar faces, new faces, and just plain randoms. Passing across the deep-red carpet, the front desk of the lobby (or 'main deck' as the goons called it) finally came into my sight, just in front of it stood Tanya. A short, brunette girl only a few years different from me- an American citizen until she had to move away and work at Easter due to, 'unfortunate circumstances' as I would constantly be told. Tanya was chirpy, and I could swear she _always_ wore the exact same pair of coffee-stained ballet flats every time she greeted me. I knew that coffee stain edge-by-edge.

"Kana-chan" Tanya smiled as I came closer to range. She bowed to greet me and I smiled back

"Tanya" I spoke, excusing a nod for a full bow.

Without a second word, Tanya pulled a small white keycard out of her pocket and turned to guide me towards the elevator, just as routine went.

"How have you been Kana-chan?" Tanya asked me, just as routine went.

"Not much since last time, but it has been good" I would reply, just as routine went.

"That's wonderful to hear" Tanya would smile back, just as routine went.

And as routine continued, Tanya would swipe her card, press the button for the 15th floor and slowly, we would escalate up the many floors which I didn't know the purposes of. Until the elevator would finally come to a rest at the middle floor of the building, where the doors would then open, and I would take two steps getting out.

"Nice to see you again Kana" Tanya would say as I turned to wave at her while the doors closed. She would wave back, and I would turn to face down the corridor, where my destination would always be exactly 30 meters away.

It was a long, continuous routine. I was trapped.

My pack nudged again, and I began walking.

30 meters later, and the door was blocked by two guards; it always was, of course. One named Kume, who was big enough to put larger-of-two men to shame. And, as always, a newbie.

"Excuse me" the newbie questioned as I came within range of the door. Kume smiled, letting the newbie make his mistake, as they always did. "This area is strictly off limits to anyone without a pass. Especially…" he leant in close a flicked a stray hair out of my face. Now this, I had to admit, was new. "Especially kids" he continued, folding his arms and pointing back down the hallway. I glanced next to him, where Kume smiled

"Welcome Miss Hoshina" Kume greeted, stepping aside to make a small pathway for me. He pressed a small pad beside the door, and it quickly flew open with a loud 'swoosh.' I took one last look at the newbie before walking in, his mouth hanging down to the floor.

"What, you've never seen a Hoshina before?" I mocked stepping through the door, trying to hold back a laugh at his silly mistake. Kume chuckled and the newbie didn't say anything. This, again was routine, but was probably the only part that was ever fun.

Two steps inside and the door closed behind me. The suddenly slam left me in a dark room with only tinted windows to give light, there was a musky smell mixed with that sort of antique-store feeling.

Every tiny piece of placed furniture was only just touched by light, the sort of thing I normally liked, in any situation but _this_. Every step I took seemed like a nightmare, I was approaching the large, dark wood desk in the front of the room. Where behind it was a large black chair, a random sigh quickly signaled that there was life in the room besides myself. Life which I didn't want to meet at the present time, but the locked steel doors behind me barred any type of possible escape.

My pack nudged again, and I went stiff for a moment.

Aside from the sigh, the room was quiet, not including from the sound of my boots on the carpet. My heart paced, with each movement I made, until I was sure I was about to pass out. The world around me was a blur, all except for the large wooden desk, and high leather chair that lay before me.

I was about five meters away when I stopped, and the voice spoke. Loud, deep

"Kana" he spoke, spinning around only enough that I could see his silhouette from the side. I bowed, and he smiled "so good that you could make it"

"I don't believe I had so much as a choice" I breathed, feeling light headed, the words I needed to find so badly still circling in my head.

"Of course you have a choice, dear Kana" he said, ducking his head and turning fully to face me. My eyes met his for only a microsecond, before we both looked away. "You just do not have the power to accept it." His tone mocked me intently, and I clenched my jaw. My pack nudged yet again, and, suddenly, it came to me. The exact words I needed, all so clear, and so freakishly simple. After all this time, it was so easy; all I needed was a nudge. I quickly ran through them before taking a deep breath, and swallowing loudly.

He looked at me, deeply and strangely. "Should I take that this is not the topic of your choice for today?" he asked, as very slowly and carefully I took a step out of bounds to approach the desk. Not willing to answer his question, "Kana?" he asked as I continued to walk forward.

Only a few step away, I un-clipped my pack from my belt and lay it on the table, right beside the small plaque labeled 'director'. I knew what was inside, and he knew what was inside, we both knew, and for a moment we both stared. Deeply and directly at the pack, waiting for one moment which would confirm what we both were thinking; he knew what I knew, at least I hoped he did.

My pack nudged, again. The director gasped before clearing his throat.

In the deep shadows I saw him close his eyes and smile, a dark and victorious smile.

"So" he whispered "you're ready?"


	3. C is for Cats

OMG! Soccergirl56- *tear* thank you so, so, so (etc) much for your reviews! My friends have never even said anything like that about my writing. I promise, I won't stop even if I have no idea what's happening!

Thank you!

We both sat in silence for a while. I didn't respond because, technically, there was no answer. I was ready, and I had been for fourteen years

Correction, I had been _made_ to be ready for fourteen years. This was just the conformation of it all.

"Kana" (A/N- Kana is meant to represent powerful in Japanese) the director breathed. I drew my eyes away and looked at him; my breath became fast paced to catch up with the intent beating of my heart. My usual routine was broken, and I was anxious as to what would come next this time. There was a silence as the director considered his words; every second was like a reality TV show where you thought your favourite contestant was about to be voted off, every second increased my heartbeat, until I couldn't take it anymore.

"Yes?" I prompted him, answering what wasn't meant as a question. The director shot me a look and cleared his throat,

"Kana, I am to report this information directly to Gozen" he huffed, stating the obvious to me. I took my pack and stepped back a few meters. The director quickly swung on his chair to face the window, more a large glass wall behind him, gazing out upon the entire city almost- he cast out his hand and sat for a moment. "In my absence, please" he paused for a moment "make yourself at home."

Smiled for only a second, as my gaze cast over the breathtaking view of Japan's most famous city, my new home I would guess. Meanwhile, the director removed himself from his chair and made his way to the opposite side of the room. I suddenly heard his footsteps stop, my heart picked up in pace again.

"Kana?" this time, it _was_ a question

"Yes?" I responded in a whisper, refusing to turn around.

"We have been waiting for this for a long time." He said "there are many things which this company has planned for you. I expect that you will take all that is given to you seriously; this is no longer a game for you. If something is asked from you, it is expected that you will deliver it." He pressed the button on the wall and the doors opened, yet again with a 'swoosh'. I turned to face him and bowed, "do you understand?"

"Yes, sir" I spoke, standing from my bow. The director smiled the same victorious, evil smile and walked through the door.

"Good girl" he prompted, waving his hand in the air, "you are dismissed." Just as the door closed (with another 'swoosh') my side pack began rattling furiously. I flinched in a usual response and unclipped the lock

Before I had a chance to react, a small, white haired figure flew out of my pack. Trying to capture its balance from the sudden burst of energy it had given while trying to escape from the pack I had put it in.

I giggled as my chara flew curiously around the room. A scowl locked on her face,

"Where is he?" she growled, circling around the director's chair. I smiled and looked at her, "what happened!" she asked again, now slowly making her way over to me.

"You know exactly what happened, you can hear everything from inside here" I patted my side-pack lightly, "but he left" I continued, turning towards the door. Jiyuu sighed (A/N- Jiyuu means 'freedom in Japanese), before picking up again

"Damn" she sighed, "that's a shame. That guy really makes my blood boil, you know?" I shook my head as she sat down in mid-air, placing her chin in her hands, just as the director always did. "_I expect that you will take this seriously Kana_" she mimicked, lowering her voice so to make a bad impression of him "_Do you understand Kana_?" she continued. "I mean really, I'll show him who understands!"

"Jiyuu" I cooed, trying to calm her down. Jiyuu quickly faced me, suddenly realizing she had gone into rant mode. "I need you to be careful about what you say, I'm not the only one who can see chara's around here" I sighed, "and besides. The walls have ears" I pointed to a security camera in the far right-hand corner of the room. The dim light showed that it wasn't currently working, but that didn't mean it couldn't still pick up sound.

"Kana _please_" Jiyuu began to rant again, "in this place. The _flowers_ have ears!" she flew over to a small decorative table on the edge of the room, where a single flower that I couldn't identify sat in a small vase. Jiyuu stopped in front of it. "Isn't that right, nosey little pest!" she pointed to the poor flower and growled "yeah that's right" she continued "just sit there like an innocent little thing. Kana and I know better!" the flower sat, in silence, Jiyuu placed her hands on her hips, as if expecting something. "Oh so now you're a _wise_ guy, huh!" Jiyuu began to yell, "Well wise guy, try eavesdropping on this!" she belly flopped straight into the centre of the flower, almost growling as she went. I smiled as the flower released a spray of pollen in defence, causing Jiyuu to sneeze strong enough to launch herself across the room. She finally came to a not-so-graceful stop and rubbed her nose, glaring at the flower. I tried to stop myself, but the sight wasn't enough not to laugh at.

"Jiyuu please" I tried to say seriously, but there was still a chuckle in my tone,

"Hmmm, you win this round" Jiyuu whispered, finally returning to my side, but not taking her eyes off the flower.

"Jiyuu, in all seriousness" I warned, looking her dead in the eyes. Jiyuu nodded,

"I know" she breathed, "I'll watch out when I say stuff. But in all seriousness Kana, why do you even care what the old sack thinks?"

"Old sack?" I asked

"_Kana_" she lengthened

"Enough Jiyuu" I snapped, casting a look, strong enough to silence a war zone. "You know perfectly well why I can't go against him."

At this, Jiyuu immediately dropped her head and calmed.

I knew all too well that anything I did which agreed with the directors orders did not fly well with Jiyuu. Looking at her slightly saddened, wide light-purple eyes, I felt bad. "We've got an hour or so you know" I caught her attention, shrugging as I spoke "do you wanna have a look around?"

Jiyuu's face immediately lit up and her frantic nodding told me that anything doing outside the building was good with her. I nodded in response, and took one last glance out the door, trying to pin-point a building which seemed good to visit.

I swear I have the magic power of bad luck, because as soon the words rolled off my tongue, I could only watch as a bolt of lightning crackled in the distance, signalling the rain to begin pouring over the once beautiful, sunny city.

"Damn" Jiyuu whistled, looking just as surprised as I was. I folded my arms and dropped my head, my wonderful bad luck power.

"Well we'd better get out of this office at least; otherwise the goons will probably accuse me of snooping again." I shot a look at Jiyuu again, who looked away a blushed sheepishly. Probably recalling the time she had reached a stage of boredom and decided the only way to break it was to sneak around the director's office, until one of the researchers had come in and found her hiding in the top drawer of a desk.

"There's a shelter on the rooftop" she offered, making her way towards the door before I could, "we could look at the city from up there."

I nodded; Jiyuu was more talking to herself than actually asking me a question. It was her nature; it was who she was, focusing more on her needs than others.

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As soon as I stepped from the elevator to the open deck of the rooftop a drop of rain hit me directly in the eye, and I coughed. God knows why, but I did.

"Kana over here" Jiyuu called from where she had somehow appeared under a small, tarp-covered shelter just a few meters away. I covered my hair with my hands, and ran over to catch her, not that it did much. Within the first few steps I was soaked, and as I came closer towards Jiyuu, I could see that she was as well.

"Why did we even come here?" I asked, ringing out my hair- it quickly turned into a frizzy roll and I dropped my arms in defeat.

"But _Kana_" Jiyuu stretched; "look" she grabbed my chin and re-directed my eyes from my hair to the view surrounding me. The placement of the tarp was just perfect enough to manoeuvre a person's eyes around the air conditioning blocks and straight through to the edge of the building, giving the most beautiful view of the city, even through the rain, which I had ever seen in my life.

The building gazed out upon the towers, buildings and even some homes. The rain intensified the light given out by streets, turning to city into a mixture of rainbow colours. Every car that drove past was like a tiny Christmas light from where I saw it. The clouds which brought the rain gave the city darkness, only helping the colours which radiated from it. It was purely, completely and utterly perfect, beautiful.

Tokyo, the city, my new home.

"Hey" Jiyuu, who was still attached to my chin, re-directed my view in yet another direction. This time, towards the only blind-spot in the tarps sight, where a large air conditioning vent blocked the city's breath taking view. I squinted for a moment, not quite sure what I was looking for, when I realized what she meant.

A boy, even teenager lay directly on the ground in front of the vent. Even in the pouring rain, he did not seem intent on moving. I looked at Jiyuu, who continued to stare before I myself, glanced back again.

It was only when I saw a small dot circling the figure that I knew what was going on. And my heart pounded at the thought. It wasn't exactly like I had expected to come here and not be interrupted by small details like this- I just thought the problems would come later rather than sooner.

"Hey!" I called out to the figure, quickly grabbing its attention. The boy sat up in place and looked at me, his shirt clung to his well-toned body from the water and his dark blue hair lay in a wet mess. I giggled as his eyes narrowed on me, "I thought cats didn't like water!" I continued as Ikuto pulled himself up, looking slightly exhausted for reasons I would never know.

"Yeah?" he replied stretching his arms out and taking slow steps towards the tarp, "well I thought Easter didn't hire wimps" he looked me dead in the eyes and smirked, "and yet, here you are"

"Oh go chase a ball of yarn or something" I countered, waving my arm in the air. Ikuto shook his head, unimpressed

"You are _so_ stereotypical-nya." I cast my eyes up to Ikuto's shoulder, where a not-so-happy-and-soaked looking Yoru floated. His tail hung limp in the air, and he tried desperately to ring out his hair with his tiny paws. Ikuto smiled and finally came to a stop under the edge of the tarp, only a few inches away from me. It had been weeks since I had last seen Ikuto, I had forgotten how tall he was, how well toned he was, how…well…

"That may be so, but I'm also always right" I flicked a lock of his damp hair. Ikuto didn't even flinch, "besides, doesn't Easter have you on an assignment or something? It doesn't seem like them to leave a stray wandering around the building" he pushed my hand away and leant on one of the thin poles that kept the tarp standing,

"I was about to ask you the same thing." He ignored my question, and my insult "don't they usually get you straight to work, you know, because you're only ever here for the weekend and all?"

I shrugged "well…" I leant against the pole opposite him, and it almost collapsed under my weight. I quickly stood up, almost tripping over my own feet. I had to expand my arms out to gain my balance again,

"_Smooth_" Jiyuu mentioned from behind me, suspending herself in mid-air and leaning against the pole. It didn't even budge. I had almost forgotten she was around…

"Anyway" I turned back my attention, facing Ikuto.

He was gone.

I narrowed my gaze and folded my arms, "alley cat" I snarled, and doing a quick 360 degree turn to make sure he had truly disappeared. I quickly stopped, the view I had been looking at only minutes before caught my eye again, and suddenly Ikuto didn't matter- not like he even had in the first place.

Just upon the edge of the city, a small break of clouds had appeared, casting a ray over sunlight over a small strip of the city and allowing a perfectly formed rainbow to make its presence appear. I stared in awe at the sight more magical than life itself- so beautiful, so perfect, enough to cast my worries away.

This was the first day of my new life.


	4. D is for Damn

Hey guys, thanks for reviews an stuff, I love getting reviews (even if it's only 1) because reviews are what keep me writing. For real, if I never got any reviews I would quit this story here and now (so if you actually like it then review! Only takes 10-20 seconds) so thanks for everything.

Okay here's the next chapter!

Xxxxxxxxxxx (Btw, I don't own Shugo Chara! As much as I would love to though, because I would totally steal Ikuto for myself, and I would take Miki so she could draw outfits for me day in and day out :D Also I _do_ own Kana, so back off. )

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The best kind of weekend anyone can have is when they get to lounge around all day and night with no work, no parents, and, therefore, no supervision. This was why I loved my weekend, because that is _exactly_ what I did. I sat in a motel room and stared in awe at the city, and when I got bored of that, I watched TV programmes of the city and stared at them instead.

All was perfect, until _BAM_

Monday morning.

Isn't it called Mondayitis when someone wants to do anything _but_ get up and do what they have to do on a Monday morning?

In that case I might as well have been dead. The morning sun streaked through the badly cut motel curtains, directly into my eyes. It was taunting me, saying: 'guess what, you have school and all _I_ have to do is watch you suffer. Ha-ha'

"Go _away_" I mumbled to the sun, throwing a pillow over my head

"_KANAAA_" the whining sun replied. I groaned and dug my head deeper under my pillow, before realizing an important detail.

"Excuse me?" I asked, not quite sure who I was talking to. My eyes were then wide open, and I _was_ awake. But there was still a pillow on my head.

"Kana wake _uppp_, you're gonna be late for school!" the whining voice continued to tell me. I gulped slightly, confused at the planets that were talking to me. Suddenly something jabbed into the side of my stomach and I jolted up directly in bed, breathing now faster than was probably healthy. I glanced around the room, scanning the bland cream-white walls for the unknown source which had painfully attacked me. "KANA!"

I quickly glanced down to see Jiyuu jabbing into my side, trying unsuccessfully to push me out of bed.

And everything suddenly made sense.

Stretching my arms, I ignored my sometimes-but-more-occasionally annoying Guardian Character, who seemed to be a lot more excited about my first day of school than I was.

"Okay, I surrender" I joked, holding my arms up "I'm awake." Jiyuu smiled and quickly flew into my full vision,

"Kana hurry up!" she repeated, gliding over to my half-open suitcase. Just peaking out over the edge I could see the red skirt I had ordered only a few weeks ago, and picked up only yesterday. I hadn't even had a chance to try on my new school uniform yet. Jiyuu tugged desperately at the item of clothing, with no luck. I yawned loudly and puffed my hair, shuffling my feet along the floor to meet her side.

"What's the name of this place again?" I asked Jiyuu, opening the bag and tugging at any pieces of clothing which I thought might belong to my uniform, when I found them I would immediately throw them on. Jiyuu shrugged in my peripheral vision and slowly made her way over to my bedside table, where I had left all my latest details from last night.

"Um…" Jiyuu hesitated. While she pondered, I settled for tying my extremely long black hair into a genie-like high ponytail, fastening it in place with a large red clasp, which was actually meant to be a bracelet. Not like anyone would really care anyway. "Seiyo Elementary" Jiyuu concluded, joining me to look in the mirror at my less-than 'trendy' school uniform.

"Seiyo Elementary…" I repeated to myself, thinking for a moment and adjusting my clothes in the mirror, "Never heard of it. I mean, you'd think they'd send me to a school with the others, it just seems to make more sense, at least I know where they are."

"None the less, the instructions say just to follow the street next to the park; it's supposed to be just on the outskirts of the city. And apparently they spread the range of single-search workers through different schools, something about covering more ground…" she continued from memory. I nodded, tugging at my skirt which felt to be a size too small.

"God I hate uniforms, they make me feel so…"

"Trapped?" Jiyuu finished, I half-heartedly smiled and shrugged, adjusting my knee-high black socks.

I did another spin for the mirror, checking my full figure again. But there was something missing, something which wasn't right, something way off, something which needed to be fixed.

"Me" I whispered to my own thoughts, catching Jiyuu's attention.

"What?"

"Nothing" I lied, moving away from the mirror to pack my school bag. "I think I'm just freaking out a little. First day at a new school. New teachers. New work. New, people" I gulped for my last word, pausing for only a second in my bag-packing task.

"Don't freak yourself out Kana" Jiyuu cooed, trying her best to give what support she knew to give, but it was too late, I was freaking out.

My mind ran through images of the life I had left behind so suddenly only three days ago. My old school, my old friends. What would they think when I didn't come in today? What would Joko tell them? Would they miss me? Would they be mad? I didn't even get to say goodbye to them, I hadn't though any of this through. I should've told the director that I was ready when we were on the phone. He would've given me more time; he would've let me live my life for just a few more days.

A single tear escaped my emotions and rolled down my cheek. Jiyuu was too busy staring out the window to notice, so I wiped it away.

I wanted my friends, my house, and the family I knew and loved. Joko.

"Kana" A small, musical voice whispered my name, I looked at Jiyuu who was looking at something else. "Kana?" the voice whispered to me again. I followed the sound, turning to face the end of my bed, where I had left my side pack the night before, it rattled vigorously before tipping over and automatically opening.

Rolling out, my dark purple and black striped egg levitated into the air, suspending itself for a moment before it was surrounded by a small ray of light, and there was a petite cracking sound. Dissolving the light was a gust of glitter which disappeared as quickly as it came. Leaving me to stare at my chara; her Jet-black hair tight in a high ponytail which reminded me much of my own, and her small dark skirt breezed slightly in the tiny amount of gust she had just created.

"Your emotions are strong Kana" she whispered, still floating where her egg had opened, "your desires and your fears are conflicting. What's right and what's wrong means nothing right now. You miss those you love; you want the comfort you are usually always surrounded by." Knowing my chara, these words of comfort were about to be turned on me, "this is your home now Kana. Do not long for things you no longer have. The ones you need to look for, for comfort are here, even if you can't see it yourself. This is your life now Kana, you need to realise that. Because you chose to go this way and you _cannot_ go back." See I told you.

Ume (A/N- Ume represents devotion and commitment or something in Japanese) glided straight into my vision, blocking out all other images for me. Her eyes were wide and intimidating. "This is your life and you need to embrace it. Okay?"

It was more a statement than a question. My chara's tone was petrifying, something not to be argued with, but I answered anyway.

"Your right" I breathed to her, turning to face the door. "I guess I'm just a little nervous, new school and all"

"Kana…" Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jiyuu, her face dropped at my concurrence with the words Ume, my chara, spoke. They were opposites, and even if Jiyuu had nothing to do with it, she hated when I agreed with Ume.

"She's right Jiyuu" I shuffled my feet towards the door, quickly undoing the locks "I'm not unhappy here, I'm just freaking out a bit is all." I suddenly realised that I had never actually told Jiyuu that I was unhappy, and she already knew that I was freaking out. But I didn't want to add any new details.

I opened the door, beckoning for my chara's to come with me. Immediately, both Ume and Jiyuu raced to be first out the door, although the crack was big enough for them to both fit through at the same time, but I didn't bother to mention it.

In my hand I grasped my directions tight, only just remembering to pick them up on my way out was a relief. Knowing the path, it would take me about 20 minutes or so to walk, and according to Ume (who had obtained all the details I needed for the first day, including a map to the bathroom) the bell for class was at the same time as my past school. So I had till 9:00.

My watch told me it was 8:50

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Have you ever tried running 2 kilometres in school shoes, through the city, on your first day?

Well it isn't easy.

By the time I reached the gates of Seiyo Elementary, my face was read, my hair was a mess and I had already had to pull my skirt down countless times while running. It really wasn't the best way to start.

Checking my watch, the time was exactly 9:15, and going off my usual school times, I was already a quarter of an hour late.

"Omigod!" I yelled, taking a deep breath and pushing through the main front gate, into the courtyard to find…

People, students,

Lots and lots of students. Playing, laughing,

Not being late to class.

I stood with my jaw wide open, hair still a mess, and the redness of my face slowly dying down. On both my shoulders, my Chara's sat in pure awe of the fact that it seemed, not only was I not late to class. I was early… by _a lot_.

"U-Ume" I stuttered, speaking towards my most organized Chara who researched and figured out all the details I was supposed to have for my first day. I saw Ume fold her arms in disappointment and bow her head

"Kana, I am so very sorry" she apologized, keeping her head bowed, "how was I one to simply assume that the times at this school, were in sync to your last…" she gulped again, "I am so sorry."

I closed my eyes and clenched my jaw, not from anger on any level, but from pure exhaustion of running 2 kilometres straight at 8:50 in the morning. Because it's not fun, "it's fine Ume, really" I told her, grabbing her chin with my pinkie and lifting it higher into the air "there is nothing to apologize about"

Ume opened her eyes and looked at me again, smiling one of her rare, very beautiful, smiles. I smiled back, when suddenly Ume's face dropped into an open jaw and very wide eyes, she stared behind me for a moment at something before quickly calling

"Kana look out!"

I felt my body forcibly jolt forward as something soft, but very solid knocked me on the back of my head. I stumbled forward a step and grabbed the point of impact where my head quickly began to throb. Bending down, I picked up the soccer ball which had been so well aimed at my skull and glanced around the school yard.

"Who the hell?" I mumbled to myself, all too well realising that there were many sports being played on the school grounds, but not soccer. There was a handball game, a basketball game and even a small football game, but no soccer.

"How in the world?" Jiyuu spoke for me from behind, taking the words straight from my mouth

"Kana, are you okay?" Ume was the only one to ask, but didn't give time to reply "you should go find the owner of that ball, they will probably want you to return it to them" she continued. I nodded, glancing at the ball and then looking back at her. Ume's eyes were deep and trance like, it was so easy to get lost in them- but somehow, she was all so secure and serious at the same time- her gaze held steady with mine.

Although I nodded, I dropped the ball again instead and grabbed my head- whoever was using it had a hard kick. Ume sighed, jumping on my hand to push it down, "Kana" she pouted, falling down to rest on the ball, which I picked up again.

"Okay, I'm going" I reassured her, holding the ball out and twitching to take a step forward. Before I could move, and turn her words into actions, something shot out of the right corner of my eye and grabbed the ball away.

It was a hand believe it or not,

"Sorry about that" the owner of the hand, and the ball, spoke. His voice easily defined him as a male- I blushed, thinking of how it must have looked if he had just seen me talking to myself... Gulping loudly, I gazed up with wide eyes to face the boy in front of me, of course. And comparing his face to his voice, I gasped- the guy was just over average height, maybe slightly taller than me, with messy, short, brown hair and very, very deep, spirit filled, green eyes. He wore the schools boys' uniform in a traditional light blue, with something else over the top... Like a cape,

"Oh, its fine really" I gushed to the boy, rubbing the back of my head and quickly glancing around to see that Ume and Jiyuu had fled to behind my shoulders, something they'd never done before. I could still feel my cheeks burning as I suddenly made eye contact with the boy, and he smiled- one of the largest, happiest smiles I had ever seen. Just at the top of my back, I could overhear Jiyuu and Ume whispering- but the only words that caught my ear were 'weird feeling', 'smitten' and 'cute'...

"Well as long as you aren't hurt" the boy continued and I snapped my hand away from my throbbing head. I would hate for him to think that he hurt me,

"No, no, not at all, no, I'm fine" I fluttered, waving my hand around like a drugged bird- the boy laughed at the action. A sweet, wonderful laugh,

"Well, hey, look, class doesn't start until nine-thirty, so we've got about half-an-hour" I cleared my throat, directing the sound to Ume and Jiyuu. their mumbling stopped "I was just practicing my kick around the back, do you wanna come join?" he asked, still with a cheerful grin. Behind me, I could feel Jiyuu and Ume stiffen with a question I knew they would both have different opinions on. I tried to ignore the harsh air around me, and smiled instead, opening my mouth to answer,

"Kana, you just ran all the way here, I don't think it's a good idea" Ume spoke, appearing up from behind my shoulder, "besides, you aren't here to play games, what would the company think of you if they saw you messing around?"

I closed my mouth and dropped my head, thinking for a moment.

"I beg to differ" Jiyuu countered before I could speak; rising up from my other side "If Kana wants to play, she can. She doesn't look that tired anymore anyway, are you Kana?" Jiyuu looked at me in determination. I gulped and glanced back at the boy, his head was now tilted to the side, and he was staring at the spot right next to my shoulder, right at Ume.

"I would l-love too," I stuttered, slightly shaken by where his eyes were directly, "But I really need to find my classroom and-"

"Eyy you're new around here, aren't you?" the boy pointed out, keeping his eyes on Ume, cutting me off, and quickly changing the subject. I gulped and nodded,

"J-just transferred today" I stuttered yet again, staring at his line of sight and trying to ignore the fact that he didn't even care about his sport anymore. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ume quickly become aware of the sight which gazed upon her and stiffened, as did I.

"Awesome!" the boy finally dragged his eyes away from my chara and gave me a thumbs' up. I giggled, "Hey look, I don't know how much you've heard or anything. But it's a bit of tradition that after their first day of school, new students come to the royal garden..." he stopped for a moment. I raised my eyebrows,

"Royal...garden?" I repeated, the boy cast a look at Jiyuu, I stiffened again before he looked away

"Yeah, just around the back of the main building, there's a planetarium-like place. We call it the royal garden" I nodded to show I was following... Sort of, "anyway. After their first day of school, new and transfer students are invited to the royal garden to have afternoon tea with the guardians..." he stopped again, "the school council. Basically a student representative from every grade almost, we all gather at the royal garden daily to discuss students' issues. We work to keep the school a better place for everyone" he gave another wide smile, and, by the sound of it, I guessed he was a 'guardian' as well.

There was a silence as the boy shuffled his feet; I guessed he had forgotten what the topic was.

"About this afternoon?" I prompted him after we had stood in silence for a moment. The boy stopped shuffling his feet and bounced up again.

"Yes! Anyway, it would be great if you'd come visit this afternoon! You could tell us how you're finding the school, what you think and everything." He continued to smile,

"Well..." I answered immediately "I'd have to make some calls and rearrange pick up times for my..." I paused momentarily, finding the word "...parents. But it sounds fun, I would love to" I didn't hesitate to accept the offer.

"Great!" the boy cried, jumping slightly again and turning. I smiled back as he ran only a few feet before stopping, "I'll see you after school then..." he pondered,

"Kana" I finished, "Kana, Yanishna" I waved

"Kukai!" the boy responded, running back to wherever he came from, "Kukai Souma."

And that was how the best moment of my life started and ended...

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Okay so there was some freaky stuff going on with the site, and I couldn't upload this file

but now here it is! yay!


	5. E is for Excitment

Finding the royal garden was a task simply easier said than done. I mean, looking for a planetarium was one thing simple on its own. But in a school as big as Seiyo Elementary, it was just a chore.

But after many pointless minutes of simply searching like a lost dog, the large, glittering white dome came into sight. And it truly was a sight- the contents within the dome were hidden by countless vines, trees and flowers which grew inside- it was everything magnificent and beautiful, I didn't even have to force my feet to move as I approached the large framed door at the front.

"Kana..." Ume stopped me in my tracks, she had her white-ribbon decorated arms folded over her chest, and her glamorous black hair hung all the way down to her lightly frilled, black skirt. Behind me, I heard Jiyuu sigh,

"Don't you start" she huffed, floating down to be next to Ume. Jiyuu's arms were pressed against her hips, crumpling her long, white free-flowing dress, and the black ribbons which fell from her arms around her wrists swayed gracefully in the afternoon breeze.

"I'm just saying," Ume continued "it's bad enough, Kana, that you lied to Easter about staying back so you could study. But to come to a silly little gathering like this? It is all very dishonest" Ume's eyes settled and came to meet mine. Even though they were the deep, lost, trance-like purple they were, a look like _that_ from Ume would kill.

"Kana don't listen to her!" Jiyuu quickly objected, almost kicking her out of the way, "Hey, you and I know that the real reason you're here is to get away from home for another hour or so right?" I pursed my lips, considering, "and what does Easter really care what you're doing anyway. Com'on!" she breathed, flicking her wrist and snickering.

"_Jiyuu_!" Ume snapped, but without a reply, Jiyuu had already made her way over to the entrance. And for some reason I didn't hesitate to follow.

The doors to the 'royal garden' were much, much larger up close- almost intimidating, such so, that I stopped dead in my running tracks upon reaching the door frame.

"Are you okay, Kana?" Ume asked, accidently running into my head from where she had been trying to keep up with my pace. I let out a deep breath and nodded,

"Peachy" I sighed, touching my hand to the cold glass wall from the outside, "just, a little... nervous is all" I added, staring down the magnificent path inside. I could see a gazebo down the far end of the planetarium-like dome, but whatever was underneath was blocked by a large, water fountain directly in the middle of the splitting path

"Shut up" Jiyuu snapped. I lowered my brow and stared at her, she stared back and rolled her eyes, "just...listen!" she told me again. I pretend to zip my lips closed just for humour, and then did as my chara told me, I listened,

"_She's lateee" _I heard a small, child-like girls voice whine from near the gazebo

"_Maybe she decided not to come?"_ Another girl seemed to speak, this one seemed older, and more mature almost.

"_Nahh, I'm sure she'll turn up, she's probably just lost_" I recognised this voice, my heart sped up in anticipation as I registered the words Kukai spoke

"_It's funny that we cannot find any files on this new transfer, and to come at such a late time in the school year..._" another male voice spoke this time, this one seemed younger but still very mature and in control. _"What did you tell her?"_ it continued

"_Chill,_" I heard Kukai talk again _"I just said we wanted to know about her first day, how everything was etcetera, etcetera"_ he continued. There was a mutter of agreement, when suddenly Ume, (who now seemed to be in favour of 'this silly little gathering') and Jiyuu slammed into my back, giving me the first step. My only problem was to convince my feet to take the rest,

"Com'on Kana" Jiyuu encouraged, pushing on my back. I took another step, but very small, "you need to get out, meet some new people"

"Please Kana" Ume insisted also pushing me forward, she was the one who had been against this all in the first place. I took another small step, "they really want you to come, I think it would be very nice if you did" she continued to push. I nodded, and half-heartedly mumbled an 'uh-huh.'

'_Their right_' I told myself, '_you're going to be here for a while now, you should make some friends. Kukai seems nice..._' I smiled only to myself and took an actual step forward.

"_Okay_" I held up my hands, signalling my chara's away, "I'm going. I'm going"

Jiyuu and Ume grinned at each other in success; I giggled and began to walk. Slowly, but still walking. I could still hear the guardians mumbling, about something, something I couldn't really pick out- as I concentrated on my hearing, I quickly lost coordination by my feet and stumbled over myself, only losing my balance slightly. The mumbling suddenly came to a halt, and I had never felt more self-conscious in my life.

Appearing from behind the water fountain, I found that beneath the gazebo roof I had seen was a small table, surrounded by six small, white, iron-laced chairs. That was pretty much it. But somehow everything was still so beautiful,

"Yo, Kana!" I glanced up to see Kukai, still with the large grin he had been wearing that morning. He still had the blue cape-like shawl wrapped around his uniform, and his legs were crossed while he lay back against the head of the chair, looking so relaxed. I smiled as he waved to me, and I waved back feeling my cheeks burn for some reason.

I quickly glanced beside Kukai, towards where a young girl sat. Her hair was tied in a perfectly formed ponytail, and secured with a red, long and thin bow-tie, her uniform flattered her figure perfectly, and she sat with her hands flat across her lap. I studied her, top to bottom, thinking one thing

"_Wow_" Ume and Jiyuu both whistled from behind me, thinking the same thing about the girl.

Noticing my stare, the girl raised her hand and spoke in a perfectly musical, sweet voice,

"Hello Kana" she said, "My name is Nadeshiko Fujisaki, queens chair, fifth grade moon class, it is nice too meet you." She smiled one of the sweetest, warmest smiles I had ever seen. I had no idea what queens chair meant, but my best guess was that it was important. I gave a weak wave in response, and cast my gaze to the next chair

"Kana" the young boy in the next chair greeted me. His short blonde hair framed his fair-skinned face very well, and his pinky-violet eyes looked at me daringly. He was so, so...

Hilariously cute.

"My name is Tadase Hotori, king's chair, fifth grade moon class. It is wonderful to meet you" he smiled, sending an air of beauty around him. I smiled even more, which I hadn't done in a while and half-bowed

"It is nice to meet you too" I greeted back.

"I'm Yaya!"

A voice next to me suddenly startled me. I turned to my right to see a short girl with red hair holding out her hand. She had two pig-tails tied up with red bows, and her cheeks flushed a natural pink. I jumped slightly, wondering how long she had been standing there, "Yaya Yuiki, ace chair, fourth grade." she finished, holding out her hand further.

Reluctantly, I reached out to shake, only to be mistaken when the young (and surprisingly strong) girl grabbed my hand in return, taking no hesitation in pulling me up towards the small, snack filled table, and placing me directly in a chair between herself and another girl.

"Yaya!" the long haired girl, Nadeshiko, snapped, keeping her smile. Yaya smiled and shoved a cream filled piece of cake in her mouth.

"But she was _late_" the girl, Yaya, countered, still with a full mouth "and you said we couldn't eat until she sat down."

I took a guess that this was the whining girl who had first complained about my late appearance.

"Excuse Yaya" I turned my attention away from the argument towards the girl who Yaya had placed me next to, the one I hadn't taken notice of yet. "I'm Amu" she greeted, holding out her hand, this time I was very reluctant to take hold- the girl raised her eyebrows and pushed her hand closer, "Amu Hinamori. Fifth grade star class, and Joker" I gazed translucently at the pinkette who sat before me; her hair tied up in a lazy high pony tail, and fastened with a red 'X' clip. And she wore her uniform in a way I hadn't seen all day, or ever. The name, Amu, it was vaguely familiar...

"What a disgrace" I gulped and tried not to move my eyes as Ume rose from behind my shoulder again. I had to only guess that Jiyuu was hiding behind the other one for unknown reasons,

The conversation behind me suddenly stopped, and Amu dropped her hand almost as soon as Ume spoke.

"I mean, really" Ume continued to drag, "there is a uniform set for a reason, to distort it in such a way is, just...just-"

I gulped for a moment as Ume floated over to the pinkette, Amu, in her own way, studying her up and down. Behind me, I could tell the rest still sat in silence

"And what's wrong with my uniform?" the pinkette asked, turning from me to look Ume straight in the eyes, who was now circling the random piece or red fabric which was attached to her sleeve.

The air around me stiffened and Ume stopped in her tracks, looking straight back at, Amu. I swallowed quietly, and blinked a few times before registering what she had said, more or less, why she said it.

"You, you can see them?" I asked calmly, swearing to myself in my head, for unknown reasons, I was embarrassed.

Amu suddenly came back to me, a confused looked played well on her face, she exchanged the look from me, to Kukai, and back. My heart sank as the air stayed stiff,

"Did I say something wrong?" I asked, reaching out for Ume who was still staring dumbfounded at Amu, and pulling her back, close to my chest.

"I assumed she knew" this time the long haired girl, Nadeshiko, spoke, directly to Kukai. I gave him the same stare as Amu, and he gulped

"Kukai?" The chirpy girl, Yaya, and the pretty-boy, Tadase, asked at the same time, both turning to look at Kukai as well.

Kukai smiled his same winning smile and laughed, folding his arms, "Hey, chill" he laughed looking me straight in the eye and looking away "Daichi was with Ran this morning... I just kinda assumed her Chara's would pick it up..." he trailed off, now looking straight at Tadase

The blonde haired boy sighed, looking down before looking at me, "Kana, I am terribly sorry for this, it must come as quite a surprise" he was so polite when he spoke, it was almost inhuman the way he did it,

"Yeah kinda" I snapped back without as hesitation, "so why didn't you say anything this morning?" I re-focused my attention on Kukai

"I wanted it to be a surprise, you know?" he laughed

"I like surprises!" The whiny girl, Yaya, defended him, now with a mouthful of tea,

"And like I said, I thought your chara's would kind of pick it up" Kukai continued, taking a piece of cake for himself

"Now that you mention it" Jiyuu, who I had completely lost notice of, spoke, floating to place herself in the middle of the table, "I did get a bit of a weird feeling when you came around earlier"

"Is that why you hid?" I asked, Jiyuu nodded,

"We'd never felt a guardian presence quite like the one we felt around Kukai before" Ume finished, joining my other chara on the table. My mind flashed through images of past Chara's I had met before, like Yoru, Ikuto's small cat-like chara, who reminded me a lot of Jiyuu strangely. I felt the tension in the air release with this news, the explanations now making sense. Next to me, the pinkette stared strangely, I quickly ran through Ume's words,

"What she means" I quickly saved, fearing for my identity "we've only met a handful of chara's before. It must have been strange for them to suddenly sense this new presence" I opened my eyes wider and gave my Chara's a warning stare, pleading for them to be careful with their words. Ume was the only one to take the hint and nod back

Around the table, there was a mutter of agreement following my words- from everyone one, except the pinkette, Amu. She stared curiously at Jiyuu and Ume, who still floated in the middle of the table, I only hoped she wasn't judging my bad excuse, I pondered in my head, needing to change the subject.

"Hey I'm Jiyuu. How's it!" Jiyuu yelped, shooting me a glance which told me she knew I wanted attention drawn away from the lie. As all eyes suddenly rested on her random outburst, Jiyuu smiled and threw in a mid-air-flip, her white-blonde hair whipping around her face as she went; such a show off, she finally came to a stop and fluttered her extremely wide, light lavender coloured eyes. With such wide pupils, Jiyuu's eyes resembled those of a child who had just won a candy store. A whole candy store,

I looked back down to Ume, who still sat in the middle of the table- not one to be the centre of attention, or even draw attention. I only guessed she didn't understand what Jiyuu was trying to do, I shook my head slightly.

"Introduce yourself" I instructed her, nodding stiffly in encouragement. Ume hesitated for a moment, and slowly rose to meet Jiyuu's level

"My name, is Ume" she spoke softly, not looking anyone in the eye, "it is very nice to meet you all, I am grateful to be here" her voice was soft, kind and sincere. It resembled her personality

"Awwww she is _so_ cute!" Yaya cooed from her seat, reaching out to grab Ume and playing with her long, ponytailed black hair. Ume's face was shocked, and quite hilarious, but she did not even struggle to be released from the girl's deathly grip

"Thank you very much" Ume yelped, Yaya now tugging at her hair "you, yourself, are very... Cute, too"

Yaya stopped for a moment, widening her eyes at Ume. "You think so!" she cried, hugging Ume to her chest. I giggled at her lack of desire to struggle away.

I was too distracted to see that to my right, the blonde boy and the long haired girl were discussing something. I tilted my head when I looked over to see the blonde boy nodding to me, before whispering something to Kukai, who then passed it on to the pinkette next to me, she nodded as well.

I was petrified.

"Kiseki!" The blonde boy called, not bothering to mention to me what they had been talking about,

"Temari?" the long haired girl was more polite in her calling.

"Daichi, over here!" Kukai smiled, waving at something behind me. I was too frozen in fear to turn around. My voice, humming in my chest as I tried to choke out the question 'who are you calling?' Until I had to spit it out, like word vomit.

"What's going on?" I gasped, glued to the position in my seat. I ran through more questions, _who are you calling? What are you going to do to me? Who are you? Do you know who I am, I can explain!_

"_Our_ guardian characters" the blonde boy told me with a smile, obviously not sensing but a hint of my fear, "we think it would be appropriate for you to meet them."

_Oh_.


	6. F is for Father

_You are not going to be prompt in meeting the car? Very well, enjoy walking home then_.

That's what Easter had told me this morningwhen I said I wouldn't be able to meet my pick-up ride in the afternoon,

Aren't they lovely people?

"Kiseki" I talked to Ume as we walked the path home,

"Belongs to Tadase" she finished, checking something on a small book which she had somehow pulled out of nowhere

"Ran, Miki and Suu" I continued

"Belong to that Amu girl" Ume checked again. I sighed, pursing my lips in thought. "And Pepe..." Ume encouraged me,

"Why do I have to memorise all their names?" I sighed, trying to subtlety see what she had written in that tiny book. Just ahead, the sun began to set, turning the sky into a beautiful milky rainbow of pinks and purples. I quickened my pace; I needed to walk faster if I was going to get there before it was dark. Ume fell behind for a moment, before reappearing at my side- the book was gone.

"Because if you don't memorise their names, you'll forget and have to ask them next time you see them" she told me, glancing up to where Jiyuu floated a few metres ahead, uninterested

"So?"

"_So_, it's rude to ask someone their name if you've already met them formally before. And it's not very nice for the person either- I think it would be much appreciated if you knew for next time." She stated,

"Since when is it rude to ask someone their name?" I glanced at Ume, her face going red- I smiled, knowing how much she hated it when her rules were questioned.

"IT JUST IS OKAY!" she fumed, picking up speed to join Jiyuu. I didn't bother to walk up and apologise, she would be over it by the time we reached...

The house I guess.

"Kana, do you know where we're going?" I heard Jiyuu call to me from ahead a few minutes later. I had only been to the house once, but that was enough for me to go off. I picked up pace again to catch up with my Chara's, now because the sun was nearly half-covered by the horizon, I guess I had about ten minutes to make up the ground I had to take before night fell.

'I know where to go" I told her, turning down a quieter street from the busy 5 O'clock traffic-filled one, we had just been on. "Just give me a minute to figure everything out."

Jiyuu and Ume both fell silent and allowed me to continue walking. I took a couple wrong turns and probably added another ten minutes to our walk. But finally, just a few minutes after the sun had fully set. We reached the house,

I had forgotten how much I hated it.

I just stood for a moment; looking up at the bland, white-creamed coloured house which blended in perfectly with the rest of the quiet, secluded street. If only the unsuspecting neighbours knew of what lay inside, then the street would probably be deserted.

"Kana?" Ume whispered, feeling my anxiety, her temper had finally cooled. "You're far overdue from when you promised to be home, if you don't go inside now-"

"Chill won't you?" Jiyuu cut in, coming at me from the other side, "Kana, you know you don't even have to go in there. I mean a plane ticket back home couldn't cost _that _much..." I smiled and shook my head. She was right, sort of,

"Yes I do" I argued, looking up to where Jiyuu floated, "Ume's right, I'm late and if I don't go in there now..." I trailed off, not waiting for an answer. Instead, I slowly pushed open the Iron Gate, holding my breath as I crossed the small courtyard, scattered in branches, overgrown grass and dead flowers, to get to the front door. This was where we had played- only once, but still, when it was alive.

Inside, nothing had changed. Walking in, the first thing you saw was the small kitchen just on the left. Straight ahead was the dining room table, which was placed next to three lounge chairs surrounding a wide-screen TV. There was a small staircase at the back of the large room, which lead up to an indoor-balcony almost, where four doors were placed, even spaced along the wall next to it. I knew what was behind each door, and I knew that around the corner where the balcony-like-hall turned, there was another room. One which I had never been in before, but I knew exactly what it was for.

Walking straight towards the kitchen, I saw that my bags had been picked up from the motel and dropped at the base of the staircase. I smiled in relief and dumped my school bag on the dining table. Turning the face the figure I had seen sitting on one of the bar stools at the kitchen bench, just as I walked in.

Turing to face him, I realised the man was drinking a cup of coffee, a newspaper held in his steady hand. I had to clear my throat for him to notice my presence, and set the paper down on the marble table. He cleared his throat in response.

"You're late" he told me, pointing out the obvious. I nodded,

"I know" I replied simply.

For anyone to look at this man now, the man who seated himself in front of me, they would have never guessed he was Easters director. Sure his hair was still unnaturally slicked back, and he sat in quite the same position as before, but without the suit on, he almost seemed.

Normal.

Kazuomi nodded grimly at my short reply. "I was side-tracked" I continued my bad lie, fiddling with a corner of my jacket.

"Kana look at the director while you are speaking" Ume hissed at me from behind, I didn't hear a peep from Jiyuu. I cast my eyes up to look directly at his,

"Of course you were" Kazuomi sighed, lying back lazily on the stool; I clenched my jaw and folded my arms. "Kana, I would expect more of you, especially on this first day." He continued, "If you agree to a time, it is expected that you stick to it. Punctuality is foreseen highly of you"

"I know" I hissed before he had finished. Kazuomi opened his eyes wide and looked directly at me again. It was frightening. "Look whatever, I have homework to do; can I just go unpack in my room?" I continued, trying to dismiss the stare. Kazuomi pursed his lips, and I stiffened, knowing I had gone too far. My free will had overpowered me- it would normally be the spot where I would character-change with Ume, to help me. But right now I asked nothing from her. Instead, I felt the happiness of Jiyuu radiate from her, knowing I had taken my own will before the directors orders, she was proud.

"Kana" Kazuomi breathed; his tone sharp enough to kill, "I give you this life. I give you an opportunity like this; I give you everything anyone could want." Like hell he did, "I bring you here, after all that has happened; I give you a roof over your head, and food to keep you alive. I give you a future, a goal, a life wish." He paused, and my heart skipped a beat. "And you repay me like this. Carelessly talking back to me in such a manner, taking for granted everything you have."

He looked me dead in the eyes, and my knees fell weak. It was like he a thrown a dart at me, straight at my heart. I caught my breath and bowed,

"Be cautious of your words Kana, as I said, this is no longer a game" Kazuomi sighed, sipping his coffee "You may leave" he waved, picking up his paper again. "I just expect more from you, next time we... speak." He paused before taking a breath, "and didn't you say you were staying back from school to do homework?" He picked up my badly told lie, and I froze, again, before trying to keep a clam face, I walked over slowly and took my bags.

"Like I said I was side-tracked" I lied, again. Taking the first step up the stairs, my bags were heavy, but I didn't show any emotion. There was no need for me to mention Kukai or Amu,

"Yes?" His tone asked me to continue, Kazuomi's eyes were glued to the paper, so I rolled mine, turning back to face him.

"A friend came by the, library, and..." I pondered, "Asked if I want to play some basketball with him." I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping he would bite. Kazuomi let a deep sigh, and glanced at me for a moment,

"Funny, I was one to think you didn't enjoy sport" he questioned, still attentive to the paper. I gulped, before shaking my head and continuing up the stairs, of course I liked sport, what gave him any idea otherwise?

"You know" I snapped, continuing up the stairs, refusing to look back at him. "For a father, you sure don't know a lot about your own daughter."


	7. G is for Guilty

**Ahhh reviews I'm so happy!- Thank you guys so much, I never thought I get this many... or any... but yay!**

Tchabita A.- **you ask a lot of questions... I like that- so I'm gonna answer by saying what my best friends **_**always**_** say to me. 'Patience is a virtue.' In other words, if you keep reading, it'll probably answer any confusion you have... Also I didn't know there were other stories with girls named Kana in them- all the names I gave to Original characters in this story were actually researched so they reflected personalities or such (ie- Jiyuu actually means freedom...) but thanks anyway- I'm glad you like the story!**

**Extra THANK YOU'S! To soccergirl56 (again!), coaching-coco and Sweet Nightmare's Good Byes. **

"Kana" My eyes stayed closed, but my mind suddenly burst awake. Tuesdays were my worst favourite days of the week, simply because, they were Tuesdays.

"Kana" the same voice asked again. I groaned and threw a pillow over my face, muffling the voice, which I couldn't quite register. "Kana!" the voice snapped, I groaned again and put another pillow over my head.

"Go _away_ Jiyuu" I groaned, taking my best guess as who it was.

There was a moments silence as my words were taken into thought, before the voice started chuckling.

"You know, I've been called a stray, a cat" the voice continued "I've been accused of being a pervert and a stalker."

My eyes shot open as I realised who was talking. I caught my breath and sat up straight, trying desperately to smooth down my disaster of a head of hair, with no luck.

Glancing to my right, I caught the eye of Ikuto, who was leaning casually against my doorframe, where the door had, for some reason, been opened. He lazily continued to button his uniformed shirt even with my eyes on him. I gulped as he spoke again,

"All that I can take" he continued, "but being confused with a female Chara?" a playful smirk formed on his lips as he still gazed directly into my eyes, "now Kana... That just hurts." I could hear the sharp sarcasm in his voice, but I fell back into my bed instead.

"Ikuto, what the _hell_ are you doing?" Hating to be woken up unless it was by my alarm, which wasn't currently in action. Ikuto gazed up to the roof, not moving another muscle in his body.

"Just wanted to tell you that if you don't want to be late, you should get your ass out of bed" he paused, and I closed my eyes again, "_Now_"

"I'll be fine" I countered, rolling over, my bed was so warm

"It's nine-fifteen, the car comes around at nine-twenty five" he sighed, switching sides of the doorframe. My eyes flicked open again and I was up immediately. Ikuto laughed at something, and I quickly realised that my appearance might have had been the joke.

He was so immature,

Then again, a short blue night-dress and messy black hair wasn't the best way to greet the world. I ignored his insults and frantically began racing around my room, trying to figure out what to do first. I grabbed my uniform and flung the shirt over my head first, before I realised I hadn't taken the night-gown off. Damn.

I dropped my shoulder straps and madly yanked at the fabric to come over my head. Of course it would choose right now to be difficult.

_I can't be late, I can't be late_- my mind rambled as I tugged at my dress

It wasn't until the base hem of my nighty had nearly reached the top of my thighs that I realised something. I dropped it again, turning around to see Ikuto still perched on the doorframe, his face expressionless, but somehow, amused. I gasped and threw a pillow at him before I had time to register it myself. Ikuto flinched and put his hands up to his face in protection, being knocked back only lightly by the pillows soft impact.

"GO!" I yelled, pointing out the door. Ikuto tilted his head and creased his brow in a confused fashion. "Ikuto get the fuck out of my room!" I screamed, feeling my cheeks go red. Glancing at my wall clock, it was already 9:20; Ikuto proceeded to stand completely still. I was fuming,

"Hey I was here first" he argued, gluing himself to the spot. I had guessed he meant the house, not the room. I folded my arms and clenched my jaw.

"Yeah, well I was born first!" I countered, throwing another pillow. Ikuto seemed taken back, and now creased his brow seriously,

"No you weren't" he stated the obvious,

"OUT!" I yelled- throwing the only pillow I had left. This time Ikuto closed the door, using it as his barrier, and finally leaving me to dress in peace.

I quickly threw on the same uniform which I had worn the day before, it wasn't in the best shape, but it saved me from having to dig for another one.

I grabbed my brush and pulled my hair up into a messy, this time low, ponytail. Fastening it with the same red bracelet I always did. I didn't even bother to check I had the right books when I picked up my bag and threw it over my shoulder, racing out my door to catch the car which I suddenly heard pull up out the front.

Like I said- I _hate_ Tuesdays

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_Lunch_------------------

I had arrived only just in time for class, like _just_. The doors were literally closing as I walked in, so I had no chance to catch up with Kukai, Amu or any of the guardians.

In fact, I hadn't seen any of my Chara's all morning, not even a peek from them after I'd had my outburst to Ikuto. It wasn't unusual though

Zoning out, my class seemed to fly by, not that I was actually paying attention or anything, obviously. But before I knew it, lunch hit. And sadly enough, I had business to attend to,

Wow, doesn't that sound important?

My classroom cleared before our teacher even had time to dismiss. I simply followed the crowd out the door, and began walking down the corridor; I passing many, many, classrooms, until the one I wanted finally came into sight- right at the opposite end of the building, of course.

I gulped loudly, and began to search through my bag for the paperwork I was looking for. Desperately looking, desperately needing.

"Kana, what are you doing?" I heard Ume ask, looking down, I saw her small head poke out of the corner of my side-pack. It was about time one of them woke up,

"The letter, the one Kazuomi gave me" I replied, digging for the note. Ume tilted her head, before picking up again,

"I think Jiyuu knows where that is!" she gasped, disappearing back into the bag.

There were mumbles, and my side rattled a few times before my pack spat Jiyuu out. Her tired eyes landing on my bag first- she was quickly followed out by Ume,

"I'm coming" Jiyuu yawned, disappearing into my bag before I could say anything. She suddenly reappeared, carrying the light-weight note, and I felt relief flush over me, "Chill" she yawned, again "patience is a virtue Kana, Com'on" her tone was so relaxed, it angered me.

"Well maybe you should take you own advice sometime" I criticized, snatching the note away from her tiny, fair skinned hands. Jiyuu huffed a peeved-off sounding huff and quickly flew to land on my head, something she knew I hated,

"Get off Jiyuu, this isn't the time" I shook my head, and she went flying. I felt bad to treat her in such a way, but considering the current situation...

My attention returned to the school, and the note in my hands- I looked back up to the classroom ahead, and my legs automatically began to move, step by step towards the door in front of me.

Slowly approaching, my heart sped up for reasons I couldn't quite comprehend, it wasn't like this was anything _that_ important, exactly.

As I stood in front of the classroom door, a sign hung above my head which gave me reassurance as to my whereabouts- _Fifth Grade Star Class_- it read, a small star symbol thrown on to the side of it for effect. I smiled, before swallowing my fears, and knocking.

"N-Nikaidou Sensei?" I stuttered, only tapping twice on the wooden door, I tried to make my voice familiar, afraid to identify myself if I had to. At my words, there was a short ruffle of paper, followed by someone clearing their throat- I found it funny, calling someone I knew the way I did such a name, but it was only for that one time. I took the sudden wave of silence as a positive sign to enter, so, motioning for Ume and Jiyuu to follow me, I did.

Walking into the room, it seemed like any other classroom in the school- separate desks, motivational posters here and there. Everything, aside from the teacher the front of the room, the one who sat with his arms folded happily under his chin, and an evil-almost smirk on his face.

Yuu Nikaidou's position reminded me all too much of my father- and I shuddered. Feeling the same tension from Ume and Jiyuu behind me- it was all too weird.

I closed the door behind me, signalling that I had come alone, Yuu smiled, removing his glasses and clearing his throat. I could hear his voice drop just with the sound

"Kana, dear Kana" he hummed, closing the book he had been reading or 'reading'- you could never be sure with Easter spies. I should know, "it is wonderful to see you" he continued, voice held low.

"If only I could say the same" I murmured, giving only enough sound for Jiyuu and Ume to hear from behind me. Jiyuu was one to giggle, but Ume...

"Kana, manners!" she snapped, as if reading my thoughts. Her mind was an open book; it was just that easy to read.

"As to you" I greeted, now loud enough for Yuu to hear. He smiled in response, eyes slowly drifting to my hand where I held the note that Jiyuu had finally found for me. He smiled, as if knowing it was for him but I stood stiff, my outer more mature character refusing to play today.

Yuu cleared his throat, only tensing me more. I gulped, holding out the note, my arm stretched and hard as a board, I was never like this usually, Yuu was normally so easy to be around.

"Thankyou" he hissed, snatching the letter from my hand and reading it before anything else. His eyes studied the paper intently, when he finally sighed and smiled. I felt relief flush over me, still standing stiff though. Yuu re-read the paper before placing it on his desk; a kind of light now seemed to radiate from him. He suddenly seemed less intimidating than he had before.

We stood in silence for a few second; I wasn't exactly sure what to do.

"What's that?"

Thankfully, Jiyuu always did.

"Only a confirmation letter; I gave the director a request form last week, I've been waiting what seems like ages to get it back." He slapped the note and smiled, now turning back to me.

"Request?" This was Ume

"I would think the director had already run you through this" there was a bump at the door, Yuu quickly placed his glasses back on, but no one entered the room, he sighed and took them off again, "this is your assignment as well, I should hope you know" his face was now serious, angered by my lack of knowledge.

"The director hasn't spoken a word to me of any assignments since my arrival." I found my voice; it was stronger now, stronger than usual. "Besides, I am a single-search plan; pairing or group work does not fall under my criteria." Jiyuu suddenly flew in front of Yuu's head to get a full read of the note I had just given him, but Yuu snatched it away before she even got through a sentence.

"That I know" he placed the paper back in its envelope and secured within his jacket pocket. "It is only one simple task which you will be asked of, I should hope that you follow. You know that I would rather the research team attempting on this, but such fools... Not to be trusted." His words reminded me of my father; I balled my hand into a fist.

"The orders of the task which I do or do not take from you are not in my region, for unless I am first instructed by the director I intend to have complete free will over the situation. So I suggest that you first run my task by him before you even try to cross my path, or the outcome will not be of that desired. Are we clear?" I felt terrible talking to Yuu like that, but right now this wasn't the happy-go-lucky teacher that he pretended to be. This was the Yuu who focused on his life at Easter, and nothing else.

"As Crystal" Yuu smiled something which was evil and to be feared, before placing his glasses back on and clearing his throat, he didn't seem the slightest bit taken back by my attitude. "Now, now Kana, leading a double life also requires me to mark homework, if you would please." His voice returned to its slightly higher-pitched format and he waved me out the door, the fearful smile turning into something more caring and... Teacher-like.

"Of course, Yuu. I wish you best of luck with you're... Plan" I let the sarcasm escape into my voice, and Yuu shook his head as I disappeared out the door

Straight into something soft, and....Pink?

"Kana!" Before I could even close the door behind me I was able to glance over to where Amu was now rubbing her head, and I did the same. That was two days in a row now something had hit my head,

"H-hey Amu" I slowly shut to classroom door, desperately not wanting Yuu to hear my conversation. I was already being watched enough. I wondered- had Amu been listening to our conversation? My heart picked up speed

"Are you alright?" A bell-like, soft voice asked Amu, but my eyes were closed and my head was throbbing. I had run into her pretty hard.

"What were you doing in there?" a slightly rougher, almost tom-boy sounding voice asked me, before Amu could even make her reply. I opened my mouth when someone next to me spoke; my eyes were still closed as I tried to dismiss the throbbing.

"Jiyuu! Ume!" A loud cheerful voice boomed- it almost seemed to be right in my ear. I opened my eyes to see Amu, still rubbing the back of her head, but not as badly as me. Next to her, Suu hovered over the area where I had accidently run into her, and right on my shoulder was Miki. Amu's small, blue-patterned artistic chara, Whom I had met briefly the day before, and who's name Ume had made me memorise. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jiyuu and Ume chattering quietly and excitedly to Ran, Amu's third and final chara who I had also met the day before. The cheery girl whom both my chara's got on quite well with, they had formed a quick friendship.

"What were you doing in there?" Amu now looked at me, ignoring Suu's question. I pondered for a moment, "Did you go to see Nikaidou Sensei?" She answered her own question, kind of.

"Yeah, we're um...old friends" I lied, rubbing my head, relieved that she obviously hadn't heard our conversation. Suu and Miki looked at me curiously,

"Actually it's a good thing I ran into you" Amu now seemed unshaken by the bump, her mood chirping up. "Nadeshiko, Yaya and I are going shopping tomorrow for a Christmas party the guardians are having. Would you want to come?"

Damn, I had forgotten about Christmas. What the hell was I supposed to be doing about it?

I thought of the too-perfect looking, long haired girl I had met the day before and her mini-me chara. Temari? The other girl came to mind, the whiny one, Yaya and her too-cute (if I do say so) chara, Pepe... I think.

"Um" I hesitated. I desperately wanted to say yes, but Easter was already on edge from me staying late yesterday. What would they say if I ditched work to go shopping?

"It'll be way fun!" Ran chimed it, trying to be more convincing, "Please!"

I had no idea why they wanted me to come so badly. Maybe they knew who I was; maybe they knew I used a fake name. Maybe they were mad. But I had to doubt that they even knew who Easter was.

"You know what. It sounds fun" My answer was hesitant, I should've known better than to accept a large offer without consulting my father first. But who cares, it's my life.

"Oh awesome!" Amu seemed... surprised at my positive answer, but I just smiled. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ume's eyes bulging in disbelief that I had just chosen shopping over Easter, and Jiyuu, almost laughing, probably in appreciation of what I had done, and in sight of Ume. My chara's were opposites, what could I do? "So, I guess I'll see you this afternoon?"

"What?"

"You are coming to the Guardians meeting right. I mean..." Amu trailed off, "We have a meeting every afternoon, and I thought someone told you. Besides, you have Chara's; every kid in school who has a chara is on the guardians' council." Wow, there weren't many people in school with chara's then... "Tadase said something about there being no vacant positions left, but we would love it if you would join us of any official duties or meetings!"

This information was new to me. I tilted my head, processing her words. "Um, sorry I didn't know. But I can't come today" I pondered, considering my options, "I'll talk to my. Um. Parents, I can probably come tomorrow though, and we can go shopping after!" I tried to sound enthusiastic, but inside I was crumbling. How was I going to ask my father if I could be picked up late, just so I could miss work to attend some meeting?

Amu didn't leave after that, neither did I, in fact we talked. Not really about anything, she told me about how she got her chara's and I avoided the story behind mine. I tried to speak as little about myself as possible, because even though it seemed Amu knew nothing about Easter, or X eggs I didn't want to tip her off to the fact that I and my Chara's were involved in an, evil, company.

While we talked, I realised that I liked Amu. She was chirpy, but it was pretty obvious that she didn't want to show that too much. And there was something to the kindness she carried, and I could also tell that there was something behind it, something she refused to let out, something which held the fullness of her radiance back. I wondered if this was why she had so many chara's, I wondered if any of them reflected this, the radiance she held back.

"Anyway, I should probably find Nadeshiko before lunch finishes" Amu brought me from my daydreaming, I felt bad for zoning out. "I'll see you, later I guess"

She ran down the hall before I could reply, quickly followed by Suu, Ran and Miki. I noticed Ume to my side, waving goodbye to them all, it was just like her to be so polite.

"Where's Jiyuu?" I asked the most obvious question. If Jiyuu wasn't by me, then no one knew where she was. Ume shrugged in a response which was too predictable, and I just decided that she would have to meet me before the end of the school day. Or she was in trouble.

I turned to walk back down the hallway, the details I had just learned of Amu running through my mind. When something caught my eye.

Across the hall from where I was standing was a glass case, obviously newly placed, and almost empty with trophies awarded to the school. But the trophies weren't what caught my eye. Reflected in the glass was the image of the door to Yuu's classroom, the classroom I had been talking in front of the whole time. And clearly seen through the door's tinted glass window, was a figure. Tall and upright, I tensed at the sight.

"Am I allowed no privacy?" My tone lowered, it was the same thing that always happened when I was in the presence of Easter. But it seemed to happen to everyone, they were different around Easter as to their normal lives.

"Should you be making plans without the consolidation of your father?" the figure growled to me. Ume gulped, and I held her for support.

"The life I have lived unto the past few days has thrived for me without any interference from him, why would I possibly change that now?"

"I only look for what is best in Easter's. Younger. Search parties, I wouldn't want you mixing within a dangerous crowd" Yuu was dead serious, but I wanted to take his words as a joke,

"When you were informed of my coming to this school, it was expected that you do no more that to supervise my daily routine. Any immediate information needed from Easter was to be transferred to me through you; you have no business within my personal and social life." I was scolding him, stating the information my father had given to me the night before when I had also been given the letter. I was brought to this school to be monitored and guarded by Yuu, nothing more- I guess they still didn't trust me. "Besides, Amu, Kukai and the others may have chara's, but they are nothing, not even a threat."

Yuu snickered at my comment, and I spun around to face the door. Angered, but only a second later his Silhouette disappeared, and I didn't bother to take the conversation any further.

The guardians were no threat to Easter, so what would be a reason for me not to befriend them. They were just a group of students who happened to have chara's. They probably couldn't even character transform.

(A/N) gahhh really long chapter. Sorry!


	8. H is for Hoshina Utau

Hey guys just a heads up, this chapter is actually completely based on episode 13 of Shugo Chara, because my story follows the actual story line of the show, (just for a little while) so I skipped a few bits, because I just didn't want to re-write a 20 minute TV show with a random character thrown in. So just the very beginning and the very end are the same as the lines in the show, (don't call it plagiarism, I really didn't want to stuff the show up to much).

Thanks so much for reviews. BTW! If you haven't seen past episode 43 of the anime, you may want to watch it to avoid spoilers in this story... Or maybe even episode 95... There are some things that come out before they are meant to. Just a warning!

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Shugo Chara, nor any characters and DEFINATLY not any scripted lines used within the show, not even the storyline itself. I do own Kana, Ume and Jiyuu though because I made them up****. ; )**

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The lights strung on the trees sparkled in the afternoon sun, I couldn't count how many shops had decorations strung around their area, each way I turned, the town was already in the Christmas spirit. So this was Tokyo,

"Hey she's here, AMU!" Yaya's whining voice dragged me away from the beauty of the city, I turned around from the Christmas the three of us, Yaya, Nadeshiko and I, had been waiting in front of. Just a few meters away, I caught a glimpse of Amu, her fast moving chest and slightly reddened face suggested she'd run the whole way here. And behind her, I saw Ran, Miki and Suu racing to keep up, I froze, becoming nervous in a social situation, just as I always did,

"H-hey Amu!" I stuttered, forcing myself to speak and giving my best to wave as Nadeshiko and Yaya both were.

"Sorry I'm late" she apologised as she neared, even though she was precisely on time. I giggled a little anyway, "It's great to see you came Kana!" She chirped upon noticing me, I smiled again, staying nervous for some reason.

"Getting together to go out on the town is so exciting!" Yaya cried, waving her arms frantically. "What should we do? Where should we go? What should we eat?" she continued.

I passed a glance from Amu to Nadeshiko, neither of them seemed even slightly taken back by Yaya's childish behaviour.

"Yaya, we're here to shop for tomorrows Christmas party" Nadeshiko kindly interrupted,

"She seems to have completely forgotten" Temari added from behind her shoulder.

"NO!" Yaya cried, again, covering her ears as if she didn't want to hear their words "Let's have fun! Fun! Games! Karaoke! Bowling!" She continued, fake tears quickly forming and spewing from her eyes. She glanced up to Nadeshiko, nearly clinging to her arm, fully aware that _she_ was the one she needed to convince.

Nadeshiko stayed completely calm, keeping her head down and her eyes closed in an elegant manner. "No" she quickly stated,

"Na is so mean!" Yaya cried, draping herself over Nadeshiko, as though it would change her mind.

It was funny, just looking at the two of them was enough to lift my spirits. I forgot about Easter, about lying to the director, my new home, everything that brought me down, taken away by the sight of my new friends.

Then Jiyuu had to tap my shoulder.

"Kana look!" she hissed, trying to keep quiet from the others. My smile dropped and I turned to follow where she pointed me. I let out a causal sigh, half expecting to at least find one of Easters goons dead on my trail. But at that moment, when I lay my eyes where Jiyuu's were, to where she was pointing me, I would have preferred six goons completely surrounding me than what I actually saw.

_The dreams that have no place left to go_

Jesus No,

_A sleep is about to take you_

You have to be kidding me,

_Where will you find a pleasant dream?_

"For real?" Ume was the only one of the three of us who was able to speak. Less daunted by the sight of what had to be dozens of TV screens placed in a store window, all viewing the same image

_Kiss the starry sky_

"Why here?" I whispered, finally finding my voice. I thought I heard Suu squeal from behind me, but I was too transfixed on the screen to notice anything else.

This was just my worst nightmare, delivered to me and wrapped in a bow. But in this case, the bow was long, blue, and half tied around a pole before it was attached to her neck.

"It isn't even possible to get away from them for like... Ten minutes!" Jiyuu yelled, now facing an even larger screen which hung above the shop. The same screen I could see Amu was facing, I wondered if she even knew who she was.

Doubt it.

"Relax Jiyuu, it's just a TV programme" I spoke to Jiyuu, who seemed most annoyed, but I was really trying to calm myself. Although even with this, I knew Jiyuu was right, they were _everywhere. _"I just still don't believe it..." I muttered, watching as my step-sister danced her way around the screen.

"Believe what?" I heard Yaya talking to me and finally dragging herself away from Nadeshiko, I pointed her to the screen, not sure what to actually say. Of course I knew _she_ had a new hit, and a video to go with it, heck I even knew the 'evil' details which lay behind Easters plan to with it. But for real? This would have to be _the_ worst timing. "Ah, Hoshina Utau!" Yaya gasped again, losing herself in the screen as well.

It had always bugged me- that even though Utau hated my father, she had still decided to take his name as her stage name. It wasn't fair, what if I didn't want to share a name with her? But I guess that's why I had Yanishna to escape to instead...

"You know her?" Amu gasped, spinning around clenching her hands into fists. What was her problem?

"Of course, she's amazing! She was a model at the age of fourteen and her debut album is already number one!"

Wrong, she became a model the first year we moved in, when she was eight, but she didn't hit big until she was fourteen. Not that I should really care, it wasn't like any good could come of the song anyway.

"Guys we should get going" Nadeshiko finally pulled us all away from the screen. I nodded frantically, praying that nothing else Easter related would come up for the rest of the afternoon.

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"You know, we haven't seen Utau since we arrived" Ume mentioned to me as I fixed my hair in the bathroom mirror. Outside I could hear Yaya, Amu and Nadeshiko all giggling about something as they waited for me to finish.

"You're not still going on about that music video, are you?" I asked, trying desperately to pull back my stray hairs,

"Kana, she's your sister, I just think it would be polite-"

"For the time being, I may share the same last name as her. But I am, in absolutely no way, related to that..." I didn't finish, I was afraid of my own words.

"Related or not Kana, I hate to nag you or anybody, but I think it would be polite to go see her" Ume argued again, I glanced over through the mirror to beg for support from Jiyuu, but she was enjoying herself with the hand-dryer. I sighed; there was nothing I hated more than to grace the presence of my desperate step-sister. Besides, I knew Ume wanted nothing to do with Utau either, it was Eru, her guardian character she was more excited about. The two of them actually got along like they were sisters, two Chara's destined to befriend and it worked out pretty well, since their personalities were slightly off being the same.

"Well we can't anyway, she's never at the house; she could be in Sweden now for all we know!" I faced away from the mirror, straight at Ume. My chara, so focused on trying to make me the best and most loyal I could be to anyone, but she could really get on my case at the same time.

"So, what if you ask Ikuto? He always knows what's going on around Easter"

"Maybe, but I would sooner die than turn to Ikuto for information" I scoffed, "besides, if she wants to see me, she can come herself"

"Kana she doesn't even know you've moved here yet, let alone you're now ready to work full time for Easter. I think it would be nice just to update her about this information."

"Ume, we are dropping this topic. Any news Easter wants Utau to receive they would pass through to her via Sanjo Yukari, just as they would me through Yuu. Obviously Utau has no interest in me moving here, and that is the plain of it. Discussion finished."

Ume folded her ribbon decorated arms, letting out a scoff "Fine. But you should really at least let her know you've completed your destiny or whatever you call it."

"Destiny, please! I call it more of... A life path and choice set out by my father"

"Yeah when you were like, three" _Now_ Jiyuu decided to join the conversation.

"Look whatever," I turned slightly so I could see both my Chara's "it's a life choice," I pointed to Ume "I was _four_" I pointed to Jiyuu. "Subject dropped!"

And that was my cue to leave,

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"I think that went really well!" Jiyuu jumped in the air as she spoke; referring to the six or seven bags I carried all holding the supplies for tomorrow's party. I could only agree on the account that Easter or my home life hadn't interfered for the rest of the afternoon, not even a phone call. I was pretty happy,

'I agree, aside from the fact that Kana decided to play shy all afternoon" Ume glared at me,

'I did not! Besides, there were times when I couldn't contribute anyway, they brought up a lot of old times, before I even came to the school. What could I possibly say to that?"

Both my chara's fell silent as I rummaged for my house key and turned the handle, both unsure of what to say to that. Inside was dark, untouched, and cold. Well in this house it was always like that, but today it had something extra, something which showed no one was home yet.

Thank god

"Come on; help me unpack this stuff before Kazuomi gets home." I quickly forgot about the fact that Kazuomi worked later hours than anyone could count, except on Mondays, but I rushed to unpack anyway.

"Wait" I was moving towards the light switch when Jiyuu called out. "Do you feel that?"

I lowered my brow before I realised she was talking to Ume, both of them glanced around, confused for a moment, before turning to me.

"It's a chara" Ume assured me, wiping away any worry that something was wrong.

"It's probably Ikuto and Yoru, I bet they came in the window and forgot to turn the lights on." Stupid alley-cat, why could he just come in the front door, like normal people? "Ikuto! Bloody hell, get down here and turn the lights on!" Sure I was standing next to the switch, but I couldn't be bothered if I knew _he_ could have done it. "Some of us non half-cat people actually _use_ the light"

There was a crash upstairs which made me flinch, it wasn't like Ikuto to trip, let alone make any noise. I turned to Ume and Jiyuu, who looked as surprised as I felt. But suddenly the house fell quiet again, I stood, frozen for about a minute, when the tapping of heels filled the room with sound, and I heard someone flick the light switch at the top of the stairs instead.

"I simply came to pick up a change of clothes. I didn't realise I would interrupt your delicate work pattern."

Utau hissed at me when she spoke, mainly referring to the tempered tone I had used when calling for Ikuto, who was obviously not home. My eyes lay steady on her, she hadn't changed since the last time I saw her, in person that was. Her hair, the same two high ponytails which fell to her waist, she was still tall and slender. I hated to admit to myself that I envied her for her looks,

"Actually my pattern has been changing a lot lately, so no harm done" I turned my voice to ice, which even surprised me. Utau opened her eyes quickly to glare at me, their purple colour reminded me so much of my own, at least that was one thing I had over her.

"Of course," she hissed, folding her arms which held a short black dress. It was vaguely familiar, "I heard all about you. Working full time now" she stopped herself for a moment to walk down the stairs, before stopping only a few meters away. Just poking out of the pocket of the jacket she wore, I saw Eru and Iru's eggs, they must have been asleep. "I guess this means you can transform." She smirked at me,

"That's the simple of it" I held my gaze steady with hers, trying not to show my fear,

"You lived down south until you were able to complete both your full character transformations, then you moved up here to work full time for Easter." Her eyes became so cold I finally had to pull away, "what's simpler than that?"

"To move away from the life, friends and family I loved to work for a mind-draining company basically run by my father in the course of one weekend." I recognised the dress now, she always wore it during concerts "to throw away everything that meant something to me, just to move to a place I hate with people I despise, all so I could make one person proud- just to help one person get what they want!" I felt Jiyuu's tiny hand rest on my shoulder, "But you should know all about that, right?" Utau flinched; losing any intimidation over me that she'd had only moments ago. I had touched a weak spot, and now my eyes were able to drill into hers. "Right! Tsukiyomi Utau?"

I watched as Utau griped the dress- the one she wore during her X-egg creating concerts- harder than I thought possible and ran out the door. That took care of her at least.

"Kana that was kind of harsh" I heard Ume whisper.

"I think that was kind of appropriate" Jiyuu responded.

"I told you she didn't want to see me." I made my way to the kitchen, stacking away large amounts of food we had brought for the next day. "Besides, as long as I'm here, I figure the less of a relationship I build with them, the better."

"Yay Kana! I'm all for freezing out the bad guys!" Jiyuu jumped on my head again, this time I allowed her to stay there

"If only it were that easy" Ume muttered, using all the energy she had to open the fridge door for me, I smiled to her.

"If only..." Jiyuu and I both echoed in agreement

"Speaking of the bad guys- I wonder where Ikuto is" I was talking to myself, but Jiyuu overheard- still on my head.

"Ohh Kana misses Ikuto" she sang, hugging the bangs of hair she sat on, I tried to brush her off but she stayed firm, "Kana _loves_ Ikuto" she continued.

"Ew, incest" I gagged, shaking my head frantically for her to come off. Finally I saw Jiyuu go flying through the air before she hit a wall cabinet, and landed in a frying pan underneath.

"Not technically, since you aren't actually related and all" Ume mumbled, half speaking to herself, half allowing me to hear.

"Oh _please_, like I could ever like an alley-cat like him. He's so..." I fumbled for the word,

"Immature?"

"Alley-cat-ish?" Ume and I both turned to Jiyuu, smiling down and still in the frying pan.

"Alley-cat-ish?" I asked, turning back to the food.

"Yeah you know- alley-cats; wild, antisocial, carefree, not very loveable," she listed finally coming out of the pan,

"Yeah that pretty much describes it" I sighed, packing away the last bag of chips, "besides, it doesn't really matter to me. If Ikuto isn't in plain sight, then no one should know where he is."

I let out a long, relaxed sigh when I was finally able to fall onto the sofa and turn on the TV. Not another soul in the house to disturb me, Utau was gone; Ikuto was god knows where, my father worked to late, and my step-mother usually liked to forget about her life by showering herself in luxury cruise vacations basically every week. Otherwise she would just sit at home, crying- it scared me a little.

"Kana, didn't you say you had tonnes of homework?" Ume flustered, gliding in front of the TV,

"Yeah but I didn't say I was gonna do it" I peered around the corner of her, that TV show was on where they did the 'bala-balance!' Gag. I never quite got it,

"Kana homework, now!" She flew over to the wall and pulled the TV cable out of its socket. I growled and stood up,

"Fine I'm going!" Jiyuu mumbled something about 'over-protective chara' behind me as I marched up the stairs. Being controlled by a thing smaller than 1/100 of my size was humiliating.

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**Heyy guys- okay so nothing really happened in this chapter, I'm sorry. Like I said I'm actually following the story line- and because of that this chapter got REALLY long, so I'm gonna finish the rest of the chapter/episode in the next chapter. Let's just say this one was more of a ...getting to know the main character sort-of-thing**- Thanks so much again! And more will defiantly happen next chapter, promise!


	9. I is for Ikuto

Hey guys, once again THANKYOU SO SO MUCH FOR REVIEWS! I cannot say it enough, everyone's reviews inspire me, so thanks! Another chapter, wouldn't call it a filler, but...Yeah, I think I'm losing my touch right now (did I ever have a touch?) but hopefully I can get more into the story again in the next few chapters. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Shugo Chara, nor any characters and DEFINATLY not any scripted lines used within the show, not even the storyline itself. I do own Kana, Ume and Jiyuu though because I made them up****. ; )**

"You know, Ikuto actually came home last night" Ume muttered to me as we walked to the royal garden. My arms filled with snacks and treats from our shopping trip the afternoon before.

"Shock horror Ume. Why do I care?" I had fallen asleep on my desk doing homework- it was uncomfortable and now I was in a bad mood, shoot me.

"I dunno, you were asking about him. Plus he seemed kinda down, and he was clutching that stupid violin of his like there was nothing else"

"When isn't he?" Jiyuu sighed in response.

"Okay I have a preposition for you two." I stopped just as the giant dome came into sight. "Let's not talk about Ikuto, Utau, Easter or any of that shit for the whole night."

"And what do we get out of it" Jiyuu rubbed her chin in interest.

"The thrill of feeling as though we all actually lead, normal, happy lives for the remainder of the party" I continued to walk again, almost losing my balance, the bags and boxes I held wobbled because of my clumsiness, and due to my power of bad luck, everything decided to stay in my arms aside from the top box of chocolate. I closed my eyes as the pink and red package fell towards the ground, but nearly five seconds later and there was no sound of it hitting the floor.

"Goodness thank-you!" I heard Ume cry, there was a chuckle and I opened my eyes to see a hand (the person's body was covered by my armfuls of food) just holding the box off the ground, whoever it was had caught it just in time, I sighed in relief.

The box-catching-person stood up straighter, and if I craned my neck high enough, I was able to see their face above my food pile. My relieved smile disappeared

"Thanks, Yuu" I mumbled watching as he placed the box back on top of the pile.

"No problem- it's pretty obvious that there's going to be a hassle whenever the guardians throw their annual Christmas party." He glanced over to the royal garden, where inside brightly decorated trees and hung streamers could clearly be seen.

"Yeah, it's pretty impressive" I gaped, amazed that they were able to put up so much in so little time, "hey why are you following me anyway! I told you to stay away from my private life." Yelling at him made me lose my balance again, this time, nothing fell off.

"You also said you only expect news from Easter to come through me to you. So here" he held out a small white envelope, the Easter logo was clearly stamped in the corner, I narrowed my gaze- was it that hard to see I couldn't actually carry anything?

"Thank-you Nikaidou Sensei" Ume gushed, taking the note and using all her strength to keep it from falling. Jiyuu quickly flew over to her aid, and they both disappeared into my bag to stash it away.

"I have some work for you, that note should verify acceptance from you via the director."

"_Fine_" I breathed, starting to walk away, "as much as I'd _love_ to help right now, I have a meeting to attend" as soon as the words came out of my mouth, I heard a party-popper crack, and loud cheering. My cheeks went red,

"Of course Kana, I would hate to keep you from you... _important_ duties" he laughed to himself as I quickly made my way into the garden, passing well decorated trees, and brightly coloured lights on my way to the tiny undercover patio which lay in the middle.

"Kana!" as soon as the patio came into view, it was pretty hard for me not to be noticed, I mean, I looked like about five layers of food with legs. But Kukai was the only one of the five who actually rushed over to take half my load away.

The food he took cleared my view; I was able to see straight at him. Kukai's smile was wider than usual, and the Christmas lights made his eyes sparkle immensely, "Good to see you came!" He smiled, guiding me over to a small table partly stacked with food already,

"Defiantly, wouldn't miss it!" I smiled, dumping the food with the rest,

"Really? You just seemed a little hesitant this morning when we talked."

"Oh, really?" I though back to when I had literally run into him (again!) this morning before class. Kukai and I had talked for ages; mainly about sports... the boy really liked sports. He even told me Daichi, his chara, had hatched while he was trying to decide which sport to play for school, "Well I'm here now." I looked around the table to Amu, she smiled widely at me.

"This is quite a feast- considering everyone simply brought a thing or two from home" Nadeshiko smiled, as everyone gathered around the table. I felt something jiggle in my bag, and I opened the clasp just in time for my two chara's to push themselves out.

"Sorry we're late!" Jiyuu called, dragging herself and Ume over to where the other chara's sat. They seemed to have bonded with everyone pretty fast- I was glad they were finally hanging around with others that weren't like Yoru or Iru... even Eru- she could get pedantic at times.

While the others turned back to talking, I stole a moment to look in my bag- Ume and Jiyuu had rested the note on top of basically everything else, and made it pretty obvious that they had already ripped the envelope and read whatever was inside. God.

_Ignore it Kana, this afternoon Easter does not exist_- I hummed in my head, not wanting to make a scene at my chara's.

"Ta-da!" I quickly snapped my bag shut and looked over to where Suu, Miki and Ran all hovered over a magnificently decorated cake.

"I made the cake!" Suu blushed, as nearly everyone in the room sat with their mouths open. She was one talented guardian character.

"That's our Suu!" Ran cheered, tiny pink pompoms suddenly appearing on her arms.

"And I designed it!" Miki, the tiny blue chara bowed modestly.

"That's our Miki!" Ran cheered again. I giggled and came back to where the guardians were now having their own conversation.

"Okay, that takes care of preparations" Tadase, blonde hair, pink eyes (ha!), said with hands on his hips.

"It looks amazing" I blurted, gazing in awe of all the food brought in.

"Indeed! Shall we begin?" Nadeshiko offered. Her attitude made it seem almost as though she were the parent of the group, the most mature.

You know when everything happens so fast, you don't really even know what's happening? That's what the party was, a blur of singing, dancing and talking, somehow I even ended up in a red and green elf costume (which was a step up from Kukai who was a reindeer or even Yaya who had found a way to wear a bunny costume for Christmas). I had never been so comfortable around people like this before, in such as short time as well. Nadeshiko was so kind, it was almost unhuman at times, Yaya was... well, Yaya, she was chirpy and fun a bit of a baby you'd say. Tadase was very welcoming- always listening to what others said, very sheepish for a guy with a chara like Kiseki. Amu was everything I knew her to be, kind and fun, but very stubborn... a bit of a 'try to be cool' girl. And Kukai was...perfect...

"Kana?" Ume tugged on my shirt when I finally broke away from the fun to grab a drink.

"I don't like that tone Ume" I pouted, taking a sip of water

"Kana I really think you should read the note Yuu gave you"

"I thought our agreement was- no Easter for the rest of the afternoon" ignoring my own words, I reached into my bag, taking the note which had already been ripped open.

"Yeah, raincheck on that" Jiyuu snickered, coming in with frosting around her mouth. I couldn't count how many chara sized slices of the cake she'd eaten. "Yuu wants you to do some dirty work... Like now."

I read the note, too distracted to actually take in the information- but I knew what it said. I had clean-up duty. Shit

"Omigod, he couldn't have given me this like, yesterday!" I yelled, suddenly realising that I was meant to meet him in the central park over half an hour ago.

"Given what?" I yelped, suddenly realising Kukai was trying to read the paper from behind my shoulder. I closed it before he hopefully took any words in,

"My Uncle!" I quickly blurted in defence. "He wants me to check on his... his... Dog!" _oh real smooth Kana_. Jiyuu and Ume muttered to each other before giggling, "And I have to be at his place... now!" Well it was 1/3 true; I did have to be somewhere right that second.

Kukai opened his mouth to make a point, but I held my hands up and dashed for the door. "Kana!" He called after me, but I just waved him away.

"Thanks-for-the-party-it-was-so-much-fun-I'll-see-you-tomorrow!" I called in one exaggerated breath as I ran for the door, not bothering to say goodbye to everyone properly, not bothering to remove the elf costume...

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It was cold, the sun was setting, I was tired.

"I can't- I can't do it!" I gasped, falling to the ground with a thud. I was out of breath, out of energy, and the park was just over a mile away. I knew I shouldn't have eaten all those chocolates!

"Com'on Kana, just another mile or so!" Jiyuu said modestly, grabbing my shoulder and making a bad attempt to pull me up.

"Kana _please_, Yuu is going to be so mad if you don't get there soon!" Ume flustered, gliding over to help Jiyuu- it still did nothing. I took another deep breath in,

"Well you should have told me what time to be there!" I yelled at her, Ume pouted, "You're supposed to be the organised one!"

"Kana, if it makes it easier, you can character change with me?" Jiyuu offered, glowing lightly- as she did when she was about to perform a change with me. I shook my head,

"Thanks Jiyuu- but no offense, if I changed with you, I'd probably end up running to Europe." It was true; Jiyuu's change gave me immense strength and speed. But the catch was- Jiyuu reflected all my free-will, and when I changed with her, I usually ended up running away from my problems, my worries, and from things I didn't want to do. This was one of those things.

"Then do a charanari with me" Ume offered, taking a step in front of Jiyuu. I pondered for a moment- Ume's personality was much more obedient than Jiyuu's, and with Ume I basically had no free will- I wouldn't end up running anywhere. Only thing was, the speed and strength I gained with her was nothing compared to what I did with Jiyuu.

I didn't really have time to accept or reject the offer, as Ume suddenly disappeared into her egg- and I was surrounded by a large, blinding light. Basically losing touch with everything around me, until seconds later, I finally felt my feet touch the cold pavement below, and felt energy that suddenly ran through my veins again.

"_Charanairi Faithful Radiance_" As I landed in a crouch on the ground, the words were whispered in my head, yet somehow they found a way out and echoed to the world around me. I finally stood, with enough energy to do so easily now- and was cautiously aware of the scythe which I held in my left hand, you know the thing the grim reaper has? Yeah. No I idea how I ever got _that,_ but I couldn't argue with what Ume gave me; even if it did also involve my suddenly shoulder length, cropped hair. I looked so different in this transformation, I guess it was handy though- I became an entirely different person, both physically and emotionally, Ume's transformation gave me her more obedient nature- causing me to do basically any task I was asked of. It was useful when I had trouble following what the director wanted.

"Kana, are you okay?" Ume whispered, after we had been standing for a couple of seconds. I nodded, leaning far back on my heels- ready to pounce, literally. "Be careful Kana, if you wear yourself out with me, terrible things may happen when you change back." I nodded again, and Jiyuu quickly came over to grab my black-clothed shoulder.

"Go Kana!" she cheered, as I collected all my energy and sank further to the ground. It was basically dark now, I was really late- the party would even be over, and I was in trouble enough as it was. I twirled the scythe in my hand; gather my energy up enough until my legs ached. Pushing my legs forward in a flash, all the energy I had was released, and I was flung into the air, my skirt and hair blowing in the wind as I soared further and faster into the sky, with Jiyuu still clutching onto me.

It wasn't until I was so high up and I could see the entire city that I began to lose speed, and for a few seconds I was suspended in mid-air, giving me enough time to search for the park. It wasn't hard though, to spin around a few times and find a dark green patch covered with tiny black dots, X-eggs. As soon as I saw the park, my hands instinctively cut through the air, pushing me down towards the green. I even fell so fast the wind whipping at my face made my eyes water, so I closed them, hoping for a perfect landing.

"You're late Hoshina Kana" Ikuto grumbled in a monotone, as my feet gently touched the ground with exactly the grace and style I had wanted. I knew he only used my true and full name to piss me off when he knew it would work best.

"I'm in charanari Ikuto. It you want to keep your head where it is, I suggest you don't push me" I snapped back, for only a moment resisting the peaceful nature Ume granted me in our transformation.

Ikuto chuckled loudly, "As if you could take me." I watched as he grabbed for one of the many still, peaceful floating X-eggs. The area of the park we stood in was scattered with them, the silent, calm floating X-eggs- I had never seen them like this before, where did they come from, what had happened?

"We have work to do. Just tell me what Yuu wants" I growled back, totally ignoring his comment. The tone was mine, but the words were Ume's, she had the control over me.

"Don't hurt yourself" he muttered, squeezing the egg so tightly I thought it would burst, but it didn't, "Just help me gather them up, okay?"

"Okay" I whispered, _why? Why don't we just get rid of them as usual? What's going on?_ My mind began to ramble, but Ume's extreme amount of obedience and control over me restricted my words, and I couldn't ask. Instead, I pushed my scythe forward, preparing myself for the attack I knew would do just the job, when Ikuto suddenly dropped the egg and picked up his tiny, blue cat ears which came with his chara change. "What?" I asked, dropping my scythe back down, my heart beat faster as he quickly turned to face a noise I obviously couldn't hear- on my right I watched as Jiyuu glided forward in curiosity, her hearing exceeding to power of mine or Ume's. "Ikuto, Jiyuu?" I panted, worried when they didn't reply.

"Kana get back" Ikuto suddenly gasped, turning back to face me- his expression unreadable.

"What's going on?" I spoke Ume's frightened words,

"Just get back, turn away" he told me again. Something inside me tugged and I couldn't object when Ume allowed me to do as I was told and turn away, far off footsteps suddenly coming into my hearing range. I brushed my short black hair behind my ear, _is it a threat? Is someone coming for us?_ My mind continued, as I was able to see Ikuto just through the very corner of my eye. I tried to spin my body around, to see what was happening, why he was so serious, but Ume was too powerful, and I stayed facing away. Until, after what seemed like forever, the footsteps picked up and closed in on us, closer and closer, my heart sped up, was this what Ikuto wanted me away from? Was this person a threat? I tried to move again, but still no luck.

"Kana?" Jiyuu flew down in front of my face, obviously as worried as I was,

"What's going on?" I whispered, listening as the footsteps came so close. They stopped. And there was a loud gasp.

"A wanderer" Jiyuu replied. She called anyone who interfered with our jobs wanderers. I don't know why. "I can't see what they look like though, Ikuto's in the way." I nodded, not bothering to even try and see the wanderer, Ikuto would take care of them anyway, and I was slightly ashamed to be seen surrounded by so many X-eggs.

Out the corner of my eye, I saw Ikuto turn his head, only slightly, in the wanderer's direction. Still expressionless- why was he so cautious with this person? He acted like it was someone he knew, not diving for them first up, as he usually would.

"Ikuto..." I heard the wanderer speak quietly; it was most obviously a girl. The voice, almost familiar. Did she know him? Could she see the eggs?

There was a long winded pause as Ikuto, the wanderer and I all stood in absolute silence. Even Jiyuu was too afraid to move over just to see who the girl was, and Ume still had me immobilized anyway. Suddenly I heard the wanderer take a step forward and I held my breath

"Get back!" He turned around, disappearing from what little view I had. I had never heard Ikuto like that, so strong, fearful, angry. It scared me, I turned away further,

The wanderer gasped again, but this was different; it was the sort of gasp anyone would make when they were told to stay away.

"Stay away from me!" Ikuto yelled again. This time, I gasped but he didn't flinch, it was as though he were trying to protect the wanderer, he made it sound as though he were trying to make her back away from a monster. But considering what we were doing... what we were about to do- I couldn't disagree

"Ikuto" was all I heard the girl mutter. I ducked my head further, ashamed to be seen, I was pathetic. Ikuto growled, before taking a step back,

"Who is that, behind him?" I heard another voice ask, this one sounded as painfully familiar as the girl's voice. But I just couldn't pick out whom. Were there two of them? But I was still too afraid (and unable) to raise my head

I could see only enough that Ikuto suddenly slashed his hand forward through the air. Not sure what he was doing, I watched, as one of the many X eggs created lurched forward, right in front of my face, and shattered itself, into a thousand tiny pieces. This, somehow, created a vicious wind, which whipped forward from my face and into the direction of the wanderer and her friend. I decided the dark which radiated from it would be enough to cover me, so, with every ounce of self control I had, I lifted my head, curious to see who was interfering with our task.

Before I could register any of the world surrounding me, Ikuto grabbed my hand, tightly, and Yoru pounced on Jiyuu pushing her forward while Ikuto dragged me. He ran faster, even with me on tail, and disappeared into the bushes, along with the following X eggs, finally releasing my crushed hand and making it obvious for me to follow him.

Curious, I stole my last chance to glance behind my shoulder to witness the wanderer.

The wanderer, wherever she was standing, was hidden behind a row of trees we had used to run behind. I tried desperately to peek around without being noticed, but all I caught sight of was something small, and light, it was too tiny for me to see small details from my distance. It was floating in midair, and I gulped, wondering how many people in the city had light-blue coloured chara's, before Ume finally found some control over me, and pulled my body into the bushes.

**End chapter- So, not much really happened, but what do you think? Seriously, review and tell me ;D Also, just beware I'm skipping for quite a few eps in the next chapter, so...Yes. Thanks again!**


	10. J is for Justice?

OKAY. Sorry it took me so long to update, I have been up to my neck in assignments, like almost literally, (don't know about most other countries but its total exam time here in Australia-sob-)

Anyway there is a total Ikuto+Kana-brother-sister-filler-moment at the beginning, but stuff happens at the end. Thanks for reviews again! YAY! And so many favourites! I'm happy! Thank you!!

Tchabita A- Ummm...well.... you see... I can't even answer half you questions... it's um... well...Thanks for your reviews though I love reading them! Do you basically read while you review? Because it seems like it. Anyway, uhh the chapters go in alphabetical order because I felt like doing it, that's pretty much it. I think you'll have to read to answer your other questions ;D

"Kana?" I rolled over in my bed and pulled the covers closer to me, following Ume's worried voice was the smell of hot chocolate; it was sweet, and almost sickening. "Kana?" she asked again, I heard the mug being placed down, and something pulled open my blinds, bathing my room in unwanted sunlight.

"Kana please get up" this was Jiyuu, her voice actually sounding concerned; Jiyuu was never concerned about _anyone_... except herself.

"No" I threw a pillow over my face and closed my eyes again. I had been in bed for what had to have been days now; I wasn't sick or even tired, I guess I was just lazy. The school had scheduled a ski trip for grades five and six, today and the day before, but I hated the snow, and used any excuse I had not to go. My excuse was I was lying in bed and didn't want to go, as much as Kukai had been excited about me going.

"Kana please, you haven't moved since..." Jiyuu trailed off and I smirked, even though she couldn't see. I hadn't moved for four days. How did I know? Because I had skipped Christmas to wander the city aimlessly, then come home two or three days later, (I stayed in a motel, it wasn't that hard) the day after I came home was day one, I had been in bed for new years, day two, plus the two days of the ski trip, days three and now four, yeah I know, lazy.

"What am I supposed to do anyway? The director doesn't want me doing anything until next week, when I actually _do_ have to go to school to help Yuu with some weird... X-egg thing..." The director had really been on my case lately, apparently he wasn't too happy about my current immobility either. Not that he was ever home long enough to do anything anyway...

"Kana if you don't get up right now, I'm going to get..." Ume thought through her threat,

"Directors at work, Utau doesn't give a rat's ass and Kukai's still at the ski resort. What could you possibly threaten me with?" I laughed, throwing the pillow off my face to see how far away they had placed the hot chocolate. The real question was, did I have to get out of bed to reach it?

"I'm going to go get Ikuto" She finished, placing her hands on hips proudly. I forgot about the chocolate and let out a long laugh,

"You think _Ikuto_ is a threat to me? Ume where have you been for the past five years?" I laughed, falling back onto my pillow "Besides he's at school anyway"

"Since when did Ikuto start going to school?" Jiyuu questioned

"Since I started skipping school, and he couldn't have the place to himself all day anymore"

"So? I'll go to his school and make him come home" Ume continued, now tugging on my foot,

"What do you think he could possibly do which would convince me to get up anyway?" I rolled over again, now facing my door, away from the sunlight. There was a chuckle which came from somewhere in front of me, it was too deep to belong Ume or Jiyuu, so I popped one eye open, seeing Ikuto lurched casually in my doorframe, at least this time I wasn't wearing my nighty.

"I have a whole list of how to get on your case, sis" strike one for cat-dude, he knew I hated it when he related us in any way. 'Sis' was at the top of my 'things not to call me' list

"Your timing is impeccable Ikuto. But can I ask nicely once that you get the hell out of my room?" I'm sure many people would be surprised if they were in the same situation as me- lying in bed at home, thinking your entire family is at school, work etc. Suddenly your step-brother shows up at your doorframe just as you were talking about him- but this was Ikuto, this was not surprising, defiantly not to me.

"Ikuto tell Kana to get up!" Jiyuu ordered, also seemingly unfazed by his well-timed appearance, Ume threw in a please and Ikuto shook his head as I closed my eyes again.

"Actually I like her a lot better this way, I get to do clean-up without any distractions and life isn't nearly as noisy." He spoke; something in me finally caved and I sat up for the second or third time in days, all the blood rushed out of my head and I felt dizzy for a moment.

"There haven't been any clean-up duties" I pointed out, blinking a few times in the light.

"Hoshina Kana" _point two for the cat_ "You missed the new year's concert and everything" he did the kind of 'tsk-tsk' under his breath and I rolled out of my bed, making a bee-line for the hot chocolate. Ume was basically the hot chocolate making queen, it tasted _so_ good_._

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry I wasn't there to cheer on Utau" there was sharp sarcasm in my voice as I sipped from the mug. My legs felt weak, but the drink tasted so good, I didn't care.

"No, no, not Utau" he chuckled, catching my attention. I finished the drink and tied my hair into a high ponytail again, straitening the slightly-less-embarrassing flannel PJ's I wore. "Yuu told me all about how your boyfriend missed you that night" I spun around so fast, it was as though the movement didn't exist, Ikuto used that annoying seductive smirk again, "Kukai Somua?" He questioned. I gulped and felt the colour drain from my face, Jiyuu floated past my face, mouth wide open, and I wasn't sure where Ume was.

"Kukai is not my boyfriend!" I yelled, my cheeks burned, "W-what was Yuu doing with them anyway? What did he say to you? Did anything happen?" Ikuto continued to smirk, and my face still burned.

"No, nothing happened...Exactly, just a few dud eggs, but they were taken care of" Yoru, who I hadn't noticed and was nibbling on a sardine poked around from Ikuto's shoulder just to laugh at me. Jiyuu was the one to glide up to him and they disappeared around the corner, I was pretty sure I heard yelling after that... "But really Kana, Kukai Souma?"

"Y-you're just jealous that someone actually likes me" I argued, but my mind was rambling to itself, _Omigod? Was he actually talking about me? Did he actually care that I wasn't there?_ It spoke.

"People like me"

"Utau doesn't count" Ikuto hesitated for a moment and I smiled.

"But just a warning Kana, as your brother-" I growled at him and Ikuto started again, "As the guy who lives in your house and is legally related to you. I would say, watch out"

"And why would you say that?" I folded my arms and shifted my weight to one foot. Yuu had been like this too, when he found out that I was friends with Amu, what's with that?

"I just... don't want you mixing with the wrong crowd" he shrugged, leaning off the doorframe and coming into my room further, I gave him a warning stare but Ikuto brushed it off.

"You and Easter are all alike. Amu, Kukai, Tadase, just because they have chara's doesn't mean they are _anything_ of a threat. Stop being so paranoid, it's not good for cats" I moved from the mug on the table, over to my dresser, digging around for something to wear.

"Look, whatever, just don't say you weren't warned" Ikuto shrugged, diving his hand into his pocket. I watched curiously as he dug around for a while before he pulled out a tiny black, purple and white box and placed it on my bedside table. Ikuto looked at the box, then back at me, before two blue ears and a long tail popped up in his character change, he looked back at the box once again and jumped on my bed, reaching to open the window, he ponced out and sat calmly on its ledge.

"You weren't around on Christmas... Or the day after" he shrugged, I shot him a look, "I just came to give it to you"

"Can't you walk out the door like a normal person?" I ignored his gift,

"A thankyou would be nice" He smirked, falling backwards. I ran to the window, watching as Ikuto made a perfect, two foot landing from my second story window, and Yoru knocked my head as he flew past to catch him.

"Ikuto, wait for me- Nya!" He called, racing as Ikuto delicately jumped from rooftop to rooftop, heading who knows where?

"Open it Kana, open it!" Jiyuu was yelling at me from back in my room. When I came towards the table, she was dusting off her long, white dress and smoothing her hair. It seemed I was taking too long to walk over, because Jiyuu sighed deeply and began ripping at the wrapping paper herself

"Jiyuu! What if I don't want to open it?" I scolded; Ume came from behind me, after using all her strength to close the window. She shook her head at me and began to open the paper more delicately; I could see a flat, black and gold box underneath. Could it be?

"It was a gift Kana, you're supposed to open it" Ume said politely, peeling the sticky tape from both ends. The paper fell open itself, highlighting the flat black box I had seen underneath, all engraved with gold writing. _So Pretty!_

"Wow..." Jiyuu whistled, flying forward to open the box. I hissed and snatched it out from under her, Jiyuu flew, face first, into the table, making a kind of growl sound as she went.

"My present!" I scolded, holding the box close. Inside, something rattled and Ume made an '_ohhhhh_' sound. Ignoring Jiyuu, who cursed under her breath, I opened the box fairly slowly, almost afraid of what was inside. I was sure I recognised the design of the box, but if it was what I thought...

Inside the box, sitting on white velvet, was a long, thin and coiled, white-gold chain. The shining chain circled around a medium sized, thick, white-gold pendent shaped as a cross, almost the same size as the one Ikuto wore. I didn't want to touch it, the gold was new and unharmed, it was sparkling; my eyes fixed into the centre of the object, where two tiny jewels had been moulded to make a miniature circle. One a deep onyx colour and the other, a light lavender purple, much like the colours on Jiyuu and Ume' eggs- the colours twisted around each other, creating a 'yin and yang' shape. It was what I thought it was going to be, but...

"It's so pretty!" Jiyuu gaped, recovering from her hit. I nodded, and Ume joined her,

"But isn't that..." she hesitated, I nodded again.

"It's the one from the department store I've been looking at for ages"

"But that thing cost hundreds!" Jiyuu pointed out the obvious, as always

"I know..." _How did he afford something like _this_?_ I wondered, finally finding the ability to pick up to pendent. It was cold in my hands, but so beautiful, the back felt, kind of bumpy actually. I flipped the cross around, trying not to touch to shining purple jewels.

"There's something written on the back!" Jiyuu fixed on the engraved writing on the back before I did. It was beautifully written, obviously with great care; I held the cross closer so I could read it.

ボールリテーナの自由

I read the engraving a few times while Jiyuu flew around restlessly, unable to read what it said. My lips broke into an uncontrollable smile, not from the words, just the present itself, it was perfect.

"What does it say Kana!" She yelled, bumping into me a few times; Ume began to float around more than usual too, they were curious. But I didn't budge; Jiyuu wasn't going to bring down my mood right now, no one was.

"_Caged Freedom_"

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Being back at school after nearly two weeks was weird. The uniform felt unnatural, everything was too open and the cross Ikuto had given was cold against my chest. How did he do this nearly every day? Not go to school? I liked school, not the work, the people. But it didn't really matter, school was finished for the day, and all I had to do was circle the buildings mindlessly trying to find Yuu. He was supposed to be telling me something important. The guardian's meeting had been cancelled today because Amu was supposed to make some speech tomorrow, which I had spent nearly all of lunch unsuccessfully helping her write. So I had plenty of time to waste finding him,

It wasn't until I saw Kukai, Amu and Tadase crowded around one of the benches, that I finally felt I had actually done something successful in the afternoon.

"Kukai!" I blushed when Jiyuu called out to him for me. None of the three reacted to her voice, so I tried instead,

"Amu, Tadase!" I yelled, still with no reaction. My pace picked up as I ran towards the three, catching a dark stare from Kukai who stood up and ran away just as I neared, mumbling something in Tadase's face just as he left. "Kukai!" I tried again, as I came to rest near Amu's shoulder, neither her nor Tadase acknowledged my presence still. What was wrong?

"Kukai..." Amu whispered as I tapped her on the shoulder.

"Amu what's wrong?" I whispered back. Tadase was the one to finally face me first, but when Amu turned around her eyes were low and sad, my heart picked up speed. "What's going on?" I tried again, Amu clutched the piece of paper- which I assumed was her _finally_ finished speech draft- closer to her, and Tadase sighed

"There's something really wrong with Kukai" he said quietly, eyes following the direction Kukai had run off in.

"But he was fine at lunch" I pointed out, feeling like Jiyuu with the obvious.

"I know... I think I should go talk to him"

"I'll go with yo-" I stopped as soon as I'd started, suddenly remembering where I was actually supposed to be. "Actually, I'm supposed to go meet Yu... Nikaidou Sensei, I just wanted to ask if either of you had seen him?"

Tadase wasn't listening; he took his chance to jog in the direction Kukai had left. Amu still stood with her sad eyes, but now she was giving me a more curious face,

"Nikaidou Sensei's been on vacation" Amu said, with a questioning tone, "He's not supposed to be back for a while... Why do you need to find him?" Her eyes changed now too, looking deeply at me, questioning me.

"Uhh, there was a test" I began to lie, "A test from my previous school which was sent through... Uh, they sent it to Nikaidou Sensei by accident, instead of my homeroom teacher, it was...yeah" _smooth_ I gagged in my head, hoping she was go for it. Amu lifted her head again, not so questioning anymore

"So he is here?"

"Um...he might not be, I guess I got the dates wrong, maybe he meant next week my bad" I rubbed the back of my head furiously, cheeks red again. Amu shrugged and checked her watch, widening her eyes.

"Oh god, I didn't realise it was so late! If you see Tadase can you ask him what's wrong with Kukai? I really have to-" she didn't finish, as soon as she was able to cram her speech into her bag, Amu waved a half goodbye and disappeared around the corner, leaving me to think to myself (god knows where my chara's had gotten to).

"She really needs to stop doing that" I added under my breath, spinning a few times. The way I saw it, I had three choices, one, keep searching mindlessly for Yuu, two, Go find Kukai (I really did want to), or three, give up and call my chara's to go home. Something in the back of my head tugged, reminding me of what Ume would say if she were here, something along the lines of not missing work and disappointing my father. So I went with my first choice, wondering like a lost puppy again.

But Kukai still stuck in my mind, was he alright? Even with Tadase there?

My aimless wandering led me back through the school, and towards Amu's classroom where I had been a few days before Christmas. When Yuu had been eavesdropping on my conversation. Thinking of Christmas made me clutch the chain of the necklace Ikuto had given me, as I tugged a few times on the room's doorknob, it opened with little effort, and I stepped inside.

The classroom was empty, blank chairs and desks, no sign of Yuu, or any other human life. I was unsuccessful, and turned to walk back through the door, when something white flew in and aimed for landing on my head, I dodged and the object went flying past me, running face first into the blackboard.

"Kana I should really wish you wouldn't walk off like that" Ume tutted to me, making a more graceful entrance to the room, I followed her line of travel back through the room as she helped to peel my tiny, white splotch of a chara off the board.

"We were looking for you everywhere!" Jiyuu called, smoothing her hair down from the collision. I shrugged, why bother pointing out that they had run off on _me? "_Hey Look!"

Jiyuu, so easily distracted, quickly forgot about me and showed more interest in the buzzing laptop which sat on Yuu's desk. So if he was supposed to be away, why was he still working at school?

"Jiyuu, I don't think you should be running through Nikaidou Sensei's private information without his consent" Ume calmly followed her over to the desk. I watched as they both glanced at the screen, only Jiyuu seeming to take interest in the text. Her eyes darted back a fourth across the page for a bit, and she gasped.

"What?" I asked,

"I'm not sure. But if it's what I think..." she trailed off, still eyes on the screen. Ume now joined her, and gasped also as I made my way over to look myself.

Yuu had to be at school, he had to be somewhere around here, he had to be doing something because my first glimpse of the screen told me he was busy. New windows popped up in every direction, scanning information too fast for me to read before they would close again, but three pictures stay behind, wide and readable. The first of an X-egg and character, labelled top to bottom with almost certain directions on how to remove a child's egg; the second, details to something, I didn't want to bother with reading it all, there was Easter's logo plastered in the corner of the writing, it had to be information on the 'plan' Yuu had told me about a few weeks ago.

The last picture was what caught my attention, a labelled diagram, of, Kukai, although more dominantly in the picture was Daichi. The two were playing soccer; it was a fairly far-taken shot, although he detail given to each tag placed around was, quite confusing actually. There were words I'd never heard in my life, and there were things I couldn't even pronounce, but in the far right corner, another X-egg had been placed, and I could piece together everything, easy as pie.

Kukai's information, the X-egg, the plan, it was all running through my mind when I could hear footsteps approaching from the hall. Ume tugged on my shirt, but I ignored her; how could he do this? It was as if he really had lost his heart.

"Kana, you alive in there?" Jiyuu's voice reached me first, her hand waved in front of my face, I could feel my blank stare still on the screen, so much running through my mind

"Kukai..." I think that was what I said; my mind really wasn't with anything. I kept looking back and forth, from his happy picture to the carefree Daichi, and the X-egg, dark and cold, they were an empty soul, and really nightmares to call co-workers for me. The faint footsteps came closer, my mindless stare still on the screen, I could hear them, coming closer, I could feel Jiyuu and Ume, tugging at my shirt, but I wasn't able to do anything,

Something clicked at the door, and I heard the wooden panels slide and two more steps being taken before my chara's finally gave up on taking my attention, and instead...

"Kana?" My mind immediately clicked away from the screen, Jiyuu let out a frustrated sigh, and Ume gasped. I let my eyes finally drift from the monitor to where Yuu stood firmly at the door, he removed his glasses and stared at me, shocked, "Kana what are you doing here?"

The room was silent for a while, like dead silent, I looked at Yuu, Yuu looked at me, and Jiyuu kind of growled at both of us, Ume was stuck as to whether to look apologetically at Yuu or to look scared for me. There wasn't a response to his question, there was no response to what I had seen; it was one thing to do this to weak children, to people with high hopes, but to do it to your own student, to someone who doesn't even know what a charanari is.

"I quit"

"Excuse me?" Yuu and Ume spoke in unison; I don't know who was more surprised, the two of them, or me.

"I said... I quit" I tried again, not sure where I was going, Ikuto necklace touched my chest and gave me a cold buzz, I felt braver. "The mission, the job, the duty, the task whatever the hell you want to call it. I quit" My eyes turned back to the computer, my heart beat strong in my chest, I had no idea where i was going, until I noticed the open window.

"Kana... I'm afraid I don't understand" Yuu stepped forward, mixing between the desks; I look to Jiyuu, who seemed overcome with happiness at my sudden independence. I smiled at her, and she smiled back dissolving into a quick and rather dim white light, my character change.

There was a flash of light, quite fast, but as quick as it came, two white ribbons hooked and knotted themselves around my upper arms, hanging loosely down to my wrists. I soon lost touch with the world around me, nothing really mattered, I was me and nothing else, I felt my senses sharpening along with my new freedom, my muscles tensed as they became stronger, it was all part of Jiyuu's character.

"You heard me" I tried again, my voice much stronger now, "I. Quit." I took a step towards the window, Yuu's eyes widened in fear that I might escape, which I was. "You can get me to do any dirty work you want. Round up lost eggs, destroy a dream to two. But when you come to hurting someone I love" Ume looked at the screen, with the plan to remove Kukai's hearts egg "You can _forget it_" I spoke to him like I needed to spell it out, if this job meant hurting Kukai, I was out 110%.

"You can't quit" he laughed, looking nervously from me to the screen. I smiled and shook my head; Jiyuu hooked her arm around Ume and pulled her onto my shoulder where she struggled nervously. My feet sprang lightly off the ground and I sailed calmly onto the window sill, just like Ikuto had the other day. Except I made it look cooler.

"Tell my father I'm taking an early vacation" my voice was laughing as I sprang from the sill down three stories and landed gracefully on the ground, "Do your dirty work yourself." Yuu ran to the window just as I made another leap onto the roof of the opposite building, my emotions still weren't controlling me, they never did with Jiyuu's character change.

"The directors not going to be happy with you!" I heard him call as I made another leap. He was right, my father was going to have my head, but I couldn't do it, I couldn't hurt Kukai, I couldn't hurt any of them, Amu or Tadase or Yaya. I just didn't have the strength.

The thought did occur to me that Yuu might be able to go through his plan without my help, it wasn't like any of the guardians would know what was going on, and they would be totally helpless. But all those thoughts were pushed aside when the idea of running back home came to me. My real home, my friends and my family, Joko, my house. The guardians would do just fine without me.

Again and again thanks for reviews, I have so much fun writing these stories! And I'll try nd post the next chapter sooner!

Thank you so much sweet nightmare goodbyes! And Soccergirl56 again, I still read your first reviews because they inspired me through my first few chapters! Thanks everyone!

-J


	11. K is for Kana!

Umm wow, so sorry for the really, really, really long gap between updating... That was... bad of me. Sorry.

Um filler chapter, kind of but not really, I totally have everything planned for the next chapter (unlike this on which I was clueless on). But this one kind of speeds through, I'm not positive on it but anyway... Also I did the whole 'I'm leaving' thing in the last chapter at like, midnight, and at 10 the next morning I decided it was stupid, so I had to change that around as well

Also you may (or may not) have noticed the new summary. It is a little ahead of its time, and 'may contain spoilers' but its works for the next like...two chapters so I decided to put it in.

_Thankyous _

_You're an idiot_- my mind tutted while I packed

"I'm an Idiot" I repeated out loud in a robot-like fashion,

"Yes you are" Ume huffed, she was sitting, arms folded, legged crossed in the air in front of me, facing away. It was her way of throwing a tantrum.

"No you're not!" Jiyuu disagreed, as always; she came in close and pinched my cheeks together, averting my gaze from the bag to her, "Kana this is _the_ best thing you can do! Just get on a plane a _whoosh_, back home you go. We can see everyone at school, _Joko_..." She lingered on the word of Joko, my full-time nanny, who was more of a mother to me, since my father refused to reveal the identity of my real one. I had been sent away from home with Joko when I was five, and first met my father again six years later, shortly before Ume was born. Joko had been with me those six years between, and before, and after, I had known her longer than anyone, living here without her was torture. She was, in fact, supposed to be flown up here just over a week ago, to live with us and work full time for Easter instead. But I didn't want Joko tangled up in the same place I was, I had finally convinced my father to let her stay down south, for good, but it was completely possible that I would never see her again...

The thought of my almost-mother brought a tear to my eye, the way she _always_ smiled, how fearfully and carefully she spoke to me when the subject was of Easter, how sad she had been when I completed both my transformations. I missed her so much. The tear dropped to the floor, and Ume suddenly turned around, pain on her face.

"This is what being an Idiot gets you" She whispered, "Your heart is sad" as Jiyuu un-pinched my cheeks and hugged my neck,

"No duh Ume" I whimpered, trying to smile through the hurt. I wanted to see Joko, I wanted to go _home_, but what I was trying to do was stupid, I couldn't just leave! I couldn't bear what my father would do to me, and I certainly couldn't leave Kukai to Yuu's plan, I couldn't let him hurt Daichi.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up" Jiyuu spoke

"I can't do this anymore" my voice broke as I threw the shirt I was holding onto the ground, "I can't just leave, but I can't live without Joko either. I need to go home, I need to see all my true friends, but I don't want to leave Kukai and Amu!"

Jiyuu looked at me with sad eyes; I wondered if she could how my heart felt as well? But she would never say anything, that wasn't in her nature. Ume, on the other hand, floated down to my luggage and began unpacking what she could actually pick up, still looking rather heartbroken. I didn't like being sad, not like this, it hurt me and it hurt my chara's. But right now, I couldn't stop, I just lay on my bed and cried while Ume and Jiyuu unpacked my bag.

_When I next opened my eyes, my room was dark, black in fact, pitch black. I couldn't see a thing, I could see end of my bed, or my dresser, Ume or Jiyuu's eggs. I could see myself though; if I looked down I could see everything down to my feet, which was when I realised, why was I standing? Where did my bed go? Why was I wearing my normal clothes? My white shirt and purple skirt, it didn't make sense._

"_Kana?" I recognised that voice, my eyes darted up, but I couldn't see anything, "Kana?" The voice asked again, I kept spinning for a while before a tiny smoky figure appeared in front of me and made me stop. "Kana?" It asked again, I nodded, for some reason I just nodded, and slowly the smoke became clearer, sharpening into an actual image, but I already knew who it was._

"_Daichi" I smiled, not really pleased or upset to see him, I was just happy that I wasn't alone in the dark._

"_Yo, Kana!" Daichi smiled, giving the thumbs up, I smiled, instinctively looking around for Kukai, but he wasn't there, just me and Daichi. No, that wasn't right, there was someone else with us, I could feel it I just knew it._

_I turned around, to see if there was someone behind me, but the room was blank, and when I turned back I realised I was right. Standing behind Daichi was Yuu, his hair was out and his glasses were off, this was Easter Yuu, not the kind Yuu from school. His eyes were closed, his arms folded, and his head down, he laughed, and Daichi didn't even seemed fazed._

"_I knew you'd come back Kana" his voice echoed around the room, but his mouth didn't move, Yuu smirked and raised his head, slowly opening his eyes. "You always come back, just as you are told" the voice echoed again_

_When his eyes were open, Yuu stared intently at Daichi, who was still smiling at me, as though he had no idea. I instinctively reached for him, to help him, but just as my hand reached out, two black semi-circles formed above his head, and below his feet. Yuu keep his stare close, and his smirk dark, watching as the two halves of the shell enclosed Daichi within them, until his was nothing more than an X-egg. Daichi, how could I let this happen,_

"_No, no, Daichi, no" I whispered to myself, jumping forward to catch the dark egg. There was still, hope, I could still change him back. But as soon as my fingers touched the eggs cold, shell, it disappeared in a cloud of dark purple light. I caught my breath and balanced myself, looking back to see Yuu now holding the egg out in one hand, and smirking at me, as if to say 'ha'_

_But that wasn't it, the worst wasn't over yet. I could feel something around me growing sad and cold. I blinked a few times, only two or three, but before I knew it, Yuu became Kukai, the real flesh and blood standing Kukai. But something was off, the way he stood, with his hands in fists like that and his head down, this was wrong; the egg was still there, hovering next to Kukai shoulder just where Yuu had been holding it. My heart skipped a beat when Kukai finally lifted his head and began to open his eyes, I was breathing faster, but not because I was happy, I just knew that this was going to be bad._

_Kukai's eyes were what scared me the most, they were dark and soulless, like the children at Utau's concerts when she took their eggs, he was lifeless, and his voice was icy when he spoke._

"_This is your fault"_

I woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily, which was all a little strange since I was being bathed in scorching sunlight; it was even stranger that it was so bright so early... Or so late.

I sat up straight and glanced to my alarm clock, but, being my magical bad luck powers and all, it was unplugged. Of all times, really!

"Ume!" I called, my breath was obviously distressed, I brushed my hair back and scanned around the room, I was too frantic to see where they had fallen asleep, "Ume!" I tried again, the only thing I noticed was an empty suitcase lying on the floor, I must have fallen asleep crying.

"Kana? Are you okay?" Her black-clothed figure flew in front of my face; Ume's face was stricken with worry, "You were screaming in your dream, are you okay? I went to get you a drink but the tap was really heavy and hard to push-"

"Ume what time is it?" If it was still early I could get to school and stop Yuu, but if it was late already...

"9:30" she answered without hesitation, how did she know? I brushed my hair back again, thinking- school was just starting, if I transformed with Jiyuu I could literally jump there, the cars would've already been and gone anyway, I just needed to get ready,

"Can you get Jiyuu up?" I asked, frantically rushing around my room to get ready pulling out any parts of my uniform I could find

"You're going to school today!" Ume jumped a little and clapped her hands together- of course I was, she was even the one who had unpacked my bag last night,

"Jiyuu!" I yelled as Ume dashed over to my dresser where Jiyuu's egg lay in my side-bag, she tapped the shell lightly a few times, and there was a tiny nudge in response. "Jiyuu up, _now_" I growled, fastening my hair up and shoving random books in my bag. Aside from being the side of me which longed for a free life, Jiyuu also represented the part of me which hated being woken up before I was ready. Ume tried again, and there was no response. "Geez you're useless" I sighed, finally opting to just take the side-bag and change with Ume instead. It was 9:45

"Kana transform with me!" Ume pressed her hands together in a tiny prayer position and looked at me with wide eyes. Out of the ten X-egg clean ups I had done since we'd arrived, I had only transformed with Ume for four of them; I guess she felt a little left out. It was also a little strange that those four times, a wanderer had always interfered with us, almost the same one it would seem...

"Just hurry" I hissed as she disappeared into her egg and again I lost touch with reality, feeling only weightlessness and a power boost until my feet touched my bedroom floor again. _"Charanari Faithful Radiance"_ my mind did the thing again where it somehow seemed like I was talking but I was actually thinking the words. My next thought though, was me cursing to myself when I looked at my dresser and realised I hadn't attached my side-bag to my belt and had to settle for tying it to my puffy, black, transformation skirt. It looked really weird,

"Out the window?" Ume asked from inside me, I glanced to the window and dashed to open it, it was nearly 10 now, and Yuu would probably try and strike just before Amu's speech, which was at 11, oh god.

"Okay we're hurrying now" I muttered, taking no hesitation when I climbed onto the windowsill and leaped high into the air, using my scythe to help me rise higher, people were probably going to need therapy after seeing me...

"Kana Amu's speech is in just under an hour" Ume told me the obvious as I soared higher in the air, scanning the ground for the school, and a good building to land on. How the hell did she always know the time anyway? "If you land between the two small towers, no one should see you" she pointed out, something in me nudged my head towards the school's main building, it was tall and obvious, but two low key towers stuck out on top, landing between them would be perfect. I lunged forward, aiming for the exact spot, and slowly and gracefully soared through the air until I was able to land softly right between the towers. If I was lucky, no one saw me, or more, no one cared.

"Too easy" I whispered, noticing the areas below the building where students were flocking into the main assembly hall below me. I could jump off, mix in with the crowd, find Yuu, and beat him up. It was all going so perfect...

That was when it happened, when something went wrong or whatever. Everything was going too smoothly, and nothing ever went smoothly for me, ever. That was why, as soon as I stepped forward, prepared to change back, something blew on me, something strong blew on me. And I quickly realised that a small portion the roof area I had landed on was laid with metal slates. I had landed on an air-vent; a large, powerful air-vent, which, along with my incredible bad luck powers, decided to turn on as soon as I stepped forward. The powerful blast took advantage of the fact that in my charanari I was light as a feather, and blew me high up into the air, high enough for anyone who wanted to, to see me. The air twisted my body and flipped me before, as quickly as it came, the air shut off, and I rapidly began to plummet back towards the cement building.

"Ume do something!" I was screamed as I gained speed. If I didn't jump properly, I couldn't land properly, falling like this could....

"Ume!" I screamed again. I would had to have been ten feet from the ground when a sudden pulse raced through my body, my muscles automatically twitched and I flipped, once or twice, until I was the right way up. Another pulse and my arm twitched, cutting my scythe through the air, my downfall immediately slowed and I came to a lucky and calm stop, landing directly on the edge of the building, only inches from falling off the side.

"That was close" Ume tutted inside of me as my heart came down to a normal pace again. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief

"This is too much for one day" I sighed, spinning around. I just needed to jump down and the assembly hall would be directly inside, I could get to Yuu just on time if I hurried...

When I turned, one thing caught my eye, I held my breath and Ume gasped, Jiyuu... was still asleep but it didn't matter. The building cast gaze over the entire schoolyard; all was empty, all lifeless, all aside from one part of the footpath where a girl stood, alone in the entire yard. She seemed to be memorising a piece of paper, totally oblivious. Out of shock I locked my eyes on hers, and suddenly she jerked her head up and locker hers with mine. We stood like that for a moment, both totally silent, her eyes on mine, my eyes on hers, completely shocked. The girl with the paper and the girl in the Charanari; it was awkward, it was bad, it was terrible, it was... it was...

"Amu"

Yay I did the cliff-hanger thing! I never get to do the cliff-hanger thing, except in chapter two...kind of.

I'm sorry, I'm not happy with it either. But the next one _will_ be better, it's my promise to like...whoever reads this.

So anyway, for the next chapter just press the button...

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	12. L is for Library

**Hey guys! This chapter cam quicker than last time, thank god. Thanks much to Sweet Nightmare's Good Byes! Your awesome for reviewing**

**And now I'm going to do a really crap thing and I'm sorry. But can I get three reviews before the next chapter, and more importantly, criticism? Because there's something tugging in my mind which says the story's just not right. And if I get that, then you guys must. **

**Also for this chapter, I suggest you watch the end parts of episode 17, coz there are lines from that and stuff. And also this is not a filler, **_**this is important!**_** (Yay! Finally!)**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Shugo Chara, nor any characters and DEFINATLY not any scripted lines used within the show, not even the storyline itself. I do own Kana, Ume and Jiyuu though because I made them up****. ; )**

* * *

This was bad. Wait no, this was worse, this was bad and worse. This was bad and anything that could be worse than bad, this was...

Well, you get the idea

I was frozen; Amu was frozen, my violet eyes drifting onto hers while I was returned by a frightened, gold stare.

Yeah, it was _really_ bad

I didn't know what to do, many ideas ran through my mind, I could run, I could turn and run away just like I always did. Or I could jump down and face her, but I didn't have time for that, I needed to get to Kukai and Daichi. I could run, save Kukai and face her later, but by then, she may have told the others about me. Not that they would understand, Amu was the only one who seemed to know Ikuto, who could possibly have a clue about Easter, or X-eggs or Charanari's. But still...

"Kana what _are_ you doing?" Someone spoke to the right of my shoulder and I flinched, moving only my eyes to look beside me, where Jiyuu suddenly appeared. I hadn't even heard her wake up, how did she-?

"Um...you're not helping Jiyuu" I mumbled through my teeth, moving my eyes back to Amu; she seemed to take a step forward. Oh no, there was no way she was running.

"Helping what?" My clueless chara followed my gaze and froze up when she too spotted the pinkette. "...Oh shit"

"Uh... Yeah" I breathed, running through my options again. I could run, face it or kinda both...

"What do we do? What do _you_ do?!" Jiyuu panicked darting back down behind me, but it was already too late. Amu's mouth moved again, but I couldn't hear a word she said

"This is really bad Kana" Ume hummed inside of me, "I mean if... just, let me think...You could... If we... Well..." Ume was running out of ideas. We were screwed.

Amu was going to tell everyone about me, they were going to hate me. Just when I was trying to help them.

My thoughts ran sour, about how everyone was going to hate me, about how Amu probably already did. And that was when the weirdest thing of all happened,

Like weirder than chara's and Charanari's altogether weird.

Really weird

As we both stood frozen, staring at each other like that 'a deer caught in headlights' thing. Someone ran out onto the footpath. I think it must have been Tadase, that girly-blonde hair was a dead giveaway. But still, he ran out, grabbed Amu by the arm, and pulled her inside.

Just like that.

Quick and easy.

All that was left was a white piece of paper from where she stood... **(AN: check episode 17, she does actually lose her speech ;D)**

There was no confusion. No Amu pointing at me and freaking out. No me trying to defend myself. No nothing.

Just, like that.

I was stunned for a moment. With the simplicity of it all. Maybe she didn't actually recognize me? Maybe Amu wasn't the wanderer interfering with us this whole time? Maybe I overreacted? But still, she didn't say anything to Tadase, not even a point.

Ume, Jiyuu and I, we were all in a stunned silence, Until Jiyuu spoke

"That was... convenient" she whispered in a stunned tone.

"Convenient... Indeed" Ume agreed, and they _never_ agreed

See? It was weird.

"Should we..." Jiyuu whispered, still staring at the spot where Amu had once stood, "Should we go save Kukai now?"

"Yeah..." My voice was just as stunned as hers. "Yeah... We probably should..."

* * *

After much confusion and another run in with the air vent. I finally was able to make my way through the school (half expecting to turn a corner and find everyone pointing daggers at me) and in front of Yuu's office. Just in time to find him humming his way out with a briefcase. And unlike I had predicted, he didn't seem the least bit surprised to see me.

"Kana-chan!" he smiled, greeting me with that sickly fake teacher voice. How was he not surprised to see me?!

"Where's Kukai?" It sounded like I was panting with anger, not because I had just circled the whole school twice...

"You're boyfriend is _fine_ Kana" the stupid teacher voice was _really_ getting to me. If I was still in a charanari he would have had it by now. "I was just about to head over to the hall to finish up my plan. Because, as you already know, once I have the X-egg of the jack's chair, everything will be complete. The embryo will be mine, and you're demanding father will finally be pleased." He smirked and removed his glasses. His voice dropped again, "but firstly Kana, you know...You really are predictable. I'm not surprised you came back; I'm not surprised you're currently playing for the other side. I'm not surprised that you're pretending to threaten me with your tone, just so you can save _him_" I clenched my teeth,

"What's he getting at?" Jiyuu snarled at me, I shrugged,

"But what I can't predict" he continued, "is how you'd react to what I can offer you" I gulped and he smirked, "I can offer you a chance; I mean, it's not too late, my plan is only halfway through. You can help with the rest. Just finish off the Jack, deliver me his egg, and the credit for the embryo is _all_ yours. All of it. Com'on Kana-chan, it's an offer you can't refuse."

He was right.

"Why? Why give the credit to me? Why should I care?" I breathed. I could see Ume from the corner of my eye, the interest on her face. But I could see Jiyuu too, and the way she looked back at me, with complete and utter despair.

"I have known you for a very long time Kana" that was true... "And if it's one thing I know, it's that the most important dream always comes first" I held my breath, and Yuu pointed to Ume, "The little black one hatched first, did she not? You're first and foremost dream. The obedience and commitment you need to obey your father. You want to make him happy, right? You want him to be proud of you, to finally express happiness in the fact that you are his daughter? If you help me, that dream can be all yours. _All_ of it"

"And what's in it for you" Ume questioned as though she were actually interested. Jiyuu hissed cruelly at her,

"Just the pride and joy of knowing that I was able to help one of Easters youngest employees" he smiled,

"I don't believe you" I snapped, internally siding with Jiyuu.

"So you shouldn't. But think about it Kana, Yes... Or no?" he gave me the chance to fulfil my dream on Ume's side, but at the same time, I could deeply scar Jiyuu...

"No" but if I went the most important way, I wouldn't hurt Kukai, I would save Daichi. That was what mattered.

"No?" Yuu sounded surprised

"No?!" Ume roared in my ear; I _had_ just given up my dream on her side

"No!" Jiyuu flipped with glee, I had also just taken her side.

"I said, no." I spoke again, Yuu shook his head in almost disappointment and I clenched my fists, "Now I'll ask again, where. Is. Kukai?" He smiled and Jiyuu sighed, like I was missing something

"Uh... Um... Kana" Ume tugged on my shirt, calming down slightly. She doesn't fume for long. I turned around to face her, "He... He just said he was going to the hall to finish him off... You should probably"

"Oh yeah" I bit my lip and Jiyuu giggled a little. I spun around again to face Yuu "Okay-" I started,

He was gone.

"What ever happened to goodbye?!" Ume gaped, "I mean first Amu and now Nikaidou Sensei"

"I really don't think this is the time Ume" I tired,

"Would you two hurry up, for _god's_ sake!" Jiyuu yelled, already halfway back from where we came. And we ran faster than I ever had in my entire life...

* * *

"I see Yaya!" Ume yelled as I repeatedly tripped over myself in attempt to keep up with the speed of my chara's. _Of course_ the room they waited in was on the _other_ side of the school, it was just my bad luck again.

"Are you saying I hid it?" I heard someone yell, Jiyuu immediately stopped in her tracks and I joined her. It's not that I didn't want to keep running, I just... couldn't run...

"I think that was Kukai" she breathed, as Ume continued on ahead,

"It couldn't be, whoever it was sounded really angry-"

"You were acting like you didn't want her to give her speech" someone spoke in a more calm tone. It was defiantly Tadase, which meant Amu was in there too...

"I wouldn't do anything so mean!" Someone argued back, it sounded so much like...

"Something's wrong!" Ume reappeared from the room, worry on her face, "its Kukai, he's not...him" good choice of words...

"It's Yuu" I spoke as I thought, "He... He said he was already half way through" I brushed back my hair and took a fierce step forward,

"You must've dropped it!" I heard Kukai yell again. I had _never_ heard him so angry,

"I have to help him!" My feet unwillingly shuffled forward, and I began to run when Ume flew in front of my face, and pushed hard on my forehead.

"You can't!" She argued, "If Amu sees you she'll defiantly say something, then what'll you do? Just stay here and she should head off for her speech very soon." I looked at the ground and shuffled my feet. She was right... Why was she always right? Jiyuu sighed that defeated sigh she had when Ume always won me over. I turned to smile at her when,

"Kana."

The voice was too familiar, I immediately looked up to see Kukai standing in front of me. His eyes were wide and shocked, his hands in fists, and he looked ready to run. Instinctively, I reached out to help him, when another figure appeared in the doorway behind him. We both looked up to see Nadeshiko and Amu running towards us. Kukai shot me an apologetic glance and I turned to face the wall, praying that neither would acknowledge my presence. And they all passed without a word. No one followed,

"Kukai..." Ume and I whispered at the same time.

"They went towards the library" Jiyuu told me, flying off. I guessed to follow her. Ume flew ahead of me and I ran through the halls, back where I came from... Again...

"I _really_ need to exercise more" I muttered to myself as we neared the library, I could see Amu and Nadeshiko just ahead and made a snap decision to go in through the left door. If I came in just the right time, I could get to Yuu before Kukai did. "Jiyuu, character change" I told her as we made it to the doorframe. She nodded. A quick _ping_. And two flowing white ribbons flowed down my arms, everything sharpened and I began to speed up, covering myself behind bookshelves.

"Nikaidou!"

"That's Kukai" I told my chara's as I saw a figure through a hole in one of the shelves, where a few books had been taken out.

"And that's Yuu" Jiyuu said, looking through the same hole

"There's no such thing as friendship in this world" I heard Yuu speak in his deep tone. I froze. If I went forward now, Kukai would see me, he would know and he would tell everyone about me, then Amu would say something, I was screwed.

"Shit this sucks" I muttered pressing my back to the shelf, Ume slapped my arm

"Language!"

"Oh like we have the f-ing time!" Jiyuu snarled, it was more her character change making speak in such a way. We all looked through the hole again as there was a _thud_ and someone moaned, hitting the ground.

"I can't even believe in myself." My eyes widened when I heard Kukai speak like that, I gasped and Ume shook her head.

"I can't believe Yuu was able to do this... On his own even... I can't... I can't believe I let this happen" My legs turned to jelly and I dropped to the floor. I needed to help him. It was my identity as Kana Yanishna, or Kukai.

"Caught you red-handed Nikaidou!" I heard him suddenly yell. My eyes popped open and I jumped high in the air, spinning myself around to look through the hole again

"You're a pretty good actor, Kukai" it was Tadase. I watched with wide eyes as he appeared from behind another bookshelf

"A-actor?" I stuttered, Jiyuu shrugged

"This is how he's been turning everyone's eggs into X-eggs!" Tadase stated, pointing to Yuu

"Now we've got proof! Everything that's been happening has been your fault!" Kukai joined

Did they...?

"Do they...?" Ume whispered,

"I think they..." Jiyuu tried,

"They...They" My voice dropped for some reason, "They, know... Everything"

"They may know, but it can't get much worse now, can it?" Ume smiled, I flicked her,

"You'll jinx it!" I yell-whispered. But it was too late,

"My own heart! Unlock!"

Yes. It got much, much worse.

There was sickly sweet music, and a sparkly pink glow which filled the room. I was too afraid to look.

I was such an _idiot!_

"Charanari: Amulet Heart!" It was Amu's voice... She was here... In a Charanari.

And if I thought I was screwed before,

"Kana! Kana! She's!-" Jiyuu tried, I put my pinky over her mouth, fixing my darkest glare on her,

"I know what f-ing hell she is! Now figure out what we're gonna do about it!" I screamed at her while Amu called attacks in the background. Wow, I really was the bad guy

"Man you're a, cranky character change" She snarled pushing my finger off, we both looked up as a pink circle flew past the bookshelf and boomeranged back,

"I see, you're pretty good" Yuu spoke.

"I really need to do something," I said out loud, watching Amu just stand there,

"You can't Kana, you work for him" Jiyuu said in all her obviousness, I rolled my eyes and did what I could, jumping to the top of the bookshelf

"Isn't it time for your speech?" Yuu smiled, pulling out the piece of paper Amu had dropped before, I really should've picked it up...

"I forgot about the speech!" I Amu squealed, panicking in a chibi-form. She may have been in a charanari, but she was still Amu in _very_ way.

"I guess I'd better give this back then" Yuu tore the speech and threw it at her,

"Bastard" Jiyuu and I both growled,

"Character Change!" Kukai and Tadase yelled, one gaining a star hairpin and the other with a tiny crown and sceptre **(AN: Sorry I don't think that's how you spell it...)**.

"Not them too" I pouted watching as the two boys stepped forward. Yuu smiled, seeming casual, and I saw his foot twitch towards the open window, he glanced back quickly. "Not on my watch" I said, jumping across the top of the shelves to the one next to the window. It was too dark for anyone to see me hiding, and there was no way I was letting Yuu off the hook, even if I did work for him.

"Sorry for leaving you guys with this!" I heard Amu yell while footsteps fled the room. Peering around the corner, Kukai and Tadase turned to see her off. And that was when Yuu made his move.

While the others turned, I could see the glint in Yuu's eye. He spun around and made no hesitation towards the window, I snarled under my breath and waited for the perfect line.

Just as Yuu reached forward to the window, I threw my arm out, and the silk ribbons which hung so peacefully from the top of my arm shot to life. They extended and quietly snaked through the air, making a beeline for Yuu. Then, nearly as soon as his feet left the floor, the ribbons touched on his back, swiftly curling and binding around his entire figure, until his arms were pulled into his chest and his mouth was sealed shut. I pulled my arm back in as quickly as it had gone out, and the ribbons pulled Yuu towards me, I whipped him to a halt when his face was only inches from mine, the ribbons still restricting him. Yuu's eyes were petrified like I had never seen them before. He mumbled something and I held my free hand up to my lips, waiting for them to leave.

"Shoot" Tadase mumbled,

"Damn" Kukai said, "We'll have to catch him next time" I guess they had taken to the open window. There were mutters heard and I slowly listened as footsteps left the room. I dropped my arm slightly and the ribbons unravelled only so Yuu's face was now free.

"What do you think you are _doing_?!" He snarled at me,

"My words exactly!" Ume agreed in the same tone. I ignored her and glared at him,

"I don't care who they are" I started, "I don't care if they know about you or Easter or me! But Kukai and the guardians are my friends! And if you dare, lay one of your devious hands on anyone of them or their chara's ever again" I pulled the ribbons tighter, Yuu flinched "Then you will suffer the last of it from me! Do we understand each other?" Ume whispered at me to release the ribbons. And as soon as I did, Yuu made his way towards the door, stopping in the frame to look back at me.

"I want you to _understand _this, Kana-chan. I gave you a choice, and chance, and you wholly rejected it, that was your mistake. And I'm afraid that what you ask me to understand is far out of depth for you. I don't care for your 'friends' and I'm sure you do... Maybe a little less after learning what you just did about them" I swallowed, thinking of Amu's cheerleading transformation. "But no matter how you see them, they are still a worthy target. I need what I need to obtain the embryo, and if that means taking out the Jack and the others, then... That's that" He took a step out of the doorway. "I have a meeting today with the director to discuss progress. I hope you look forward to seeing him after I tell of what you've done." He closed the door, and I was left in the black.

"You know what sucks?" Jiyuu whispered through the darkness,

"Everything?' I answered,

"Yep"

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* * *

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**Just press the **_**pretty**_** little button.**

**PS: I put links on my profile showing two photo's of Kana (well, what I though she looked like) and a photo of her Faithful Radiance Charanari, which looks freakishly EXACTLY as how I imagined it. And there are descriptions of all the OC's there as well. So the descriptions may help clear some confusion about the characters that people have. Enjoy!**


	13. M is for Memories

I tapped my foot impatiently against the metal walls, missing yet another day of school to meet with my father about a rather large sum of X-eggs which had escaped from us a week or so before. No thanks to the wanderer- aka Amu- who had come in, yet again. It wasn't even my fault, I hadn't even been there, I was off chasing strays which pulled away from us!

My thoughts fluttered around why I was there, and slowly made their way to two days before, in the library. Amu seeing me, transforming, Kukai in his character change... I was such an _idiot_! How did I miss such important details!? And even worse... Ikuto was right...

"_I just... don't want you mixing with the wrong crowd"_ he'd said the morning he gave me the necklace which currently hung from my neck, over my black Lolita shirt.

"_Amu, Kukai, Tadase, just because they have chara's doesn't mean they are _anything_ of a threat" _I'd so stupidly replied back.

"_Look, whatever, just don't say you weren't warned"_

I was warned, and I ignored it, being an idiot who carries the gift of bad luck with them and all...

I looked to the opposite side of the hall, where Ikuto rested so casually against the wall. My eyes shot deep into him, it was his fault I was here, it was his fault... about everything!

"What?" Ikuto looked at me cluelessly; I clenched my teeth together,

"I hate you" I uttered, he shrugged.

"I know" he was silent for a moment, "you'd better have a brilliant plan for him" he motioned to the door of the director's office, "because if you think I'm saving your ass-"

"I'm working on it" I hissed, "besides you never save me. It was your bloody fault in the first place that the eggs got away" he looked about to say something, and I interrupted, "And don't you dare blame Amu on this, she only does what's right."

There was another silence; I seemed to have shut him up, until he changed the subject,

"You finally caught up" He smirked, referring to the fact that obviously I had _finally_ figured out that the guardians were _bad_ people to us. Was I the only person in the company who didn't know?! I opened my mouth to answer when the door in front of us finally flew open, and Kazuomi's voice boomed from inside for us to enter. "Ladies first" he offered me smugly,

"You'd better pray for your life in there Ikuto, once the director hears it was _your_ fault" I warned, walking in just in time to see him smirk.

"Good luck to you to sis" he laughed. I kicked my leg backwards, hitting his shin,

"I'm _not_ your sister"

* * *

**Kana, nine:**

_An early autumn morning, as the last leaves fell from the trees, a curious, young, black haired girl lay on the ground, rubbing her leg from an accidental fall she'd made in one of the much higher up branches. As the girl tried desperately to stand up and get back to the house, a slightly older boy walked up to her side. His dark-blue hair highlighting off the orange and yellow coloured ground. For a moment the boy asked questions, trying to figure out what happened, but the young girl stayed stubborn._

"_You're hurt" Ikuto muttered, pointing to Kana's obviously battered leg_

"_I can get back myself" she huffed, folding her arms and refusing to stand_

"_No you can't"_

"_Can to"_

"_No"_

"_Yes"_

_Before the argument could continue any further, Ikuto rolled his eyes and threw the girl onto his back, trying desperately to withstand the blows she made to his spine while he carried her to the house._

"_Why, are, you, helping, me!?" She gasped between punches_

"_I couldn't leave you to die, I'm not that mean" he said, hiking Kana higher onto his back to try and stop her strangely strong, 9 year old fists._

"_Yes you are" she argued, giving up on punching finally "...Do you like me?" she said in a sing-song voice, meaning it in only a brotherly way, Ikuto wavered, misunderstanding the question_

"_What? Did you-... what? No!" He dropped Kana on the front steps of their porch, running water from the outside and splashing some on Kana's leg, she flinched._

"_So you like Utau then?" he splashed more water, the cuts burned_

"_What? Why?... No!" He repeated, throwing more water,_

"_Stop it, that hurts! It's annoying!" Kana complained. Ikuto rolled his eyes again_

"_You're annoying" he grumbled, holding out his hand to help her up, Kana took the hand and pulled herself up, jumping forward to throw her arms around Ikuto's neck, she laughed._

"_You're funny" she giggled, pulling away and jumping up the stairs, "And" she paused, "and _I_ like you anyway, you're the best big brother"_

* * *

"Wow thanks for that" I mumbled sarcastically, Jiyuu snickered as we left the office.

Ikuto shrugged "Your problem" his voice was faint, I shot an icy stare to him. Yoru chuckled back and flew out a window further ahead, soon after two blue ears and a tail appeared on Ikuto, I watched as he followed in the same direction.

"Excuse me? _My_ problem. Of every fricken thing you could have done in there and now it sounds like it's _my_ fault. What about _you_" It was Ikuto's fault that the eggs had gotten away just as much as it was mine... And Amu's... He could've done a lot more than he did. Now because he had blamed everything on me, I had clean-up duty until I regained the same amount of eggs as we'd lost. That would mean _another_ week off school for me. I'd be lucky to make it to graduation.

"She's your friend, not mine. Like I said" Ikuto smirked at me "_your_ problem"

"It's just as much your fault as it is Amu's! And you should've stood up for me in there! isn't that what brothers are meant to do!?" Ikuto dropped his smirk, finally, and jumped off the window sill, I suddenly realised what I'd done.

"Your brother? What happened to the 'don't relate me to you' attitude I usually get?" he sounded really pissed, but pretty calm at the same time.

"No..." I fumbled with my words, "No! No you're not! You are not my brother!" I heard Ume sigh behind me, Ikuto clenched his jaw "and it's a good thing too, coz you kinda suck as one."

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* * *

**Kana, eight:**

_In a dimly lit room, a young girl with short black hair clutched her bedcovers tightly, with fear in her eyes, frightened from a movie she had watched only minutes before. Next to her, a girl, slightly older, with blond twin-tails, knelt down by her side, trying to comfort the girl._

"_I'm scared" Kana shivered,_

"_There's nothing there, you're fine" Utau whispered, flipping her hair back_

"_It's still scary"_

"_We're all a little scared, you're just worse because you're littler"_

"_...I want my mum" Kana pulled the covers further over her head, not taking her eyes off the wardrobe._

"_I don't know where your mum is" Utau pointed out, pulling the covers down. Kana's face was now a pout more than fearful_

"_Neither do I." Kana muttered, sniffling. Utau looked at the young girl with wide eyes,_

"_I don't know where my dad is. He left, but we found his violin, Ikuto plays it now" she whispered. Kana looked down on her with curious eyes, thinking of a comeback which could only be brought up by an eight year old_

"_I don't know where my favourite teddy is either, I went looking for him one day and he was gone. Joko told me he went to boarding school. And a little while later, I found his bow-tie under my bed" Utau looked up at the black-haired girl and smiled, "do I win?" Kana asked, Utau ruffled her step-sisters short hair._

"_Yeah, you win"_

* * *

**Kana, two or three:**

_On a warm Sunday morning, a brown haired man sat alone outside his Tokyo home, watching as the world flew by and the garden before him bloomed with life. Slowly, the man heard tiny footsteps running from the distance, followed by larger, calmer paced ones. Only soon after, a tiny girl appeared around the corner of his front gate, followed by a woman in her early twenty's._

"_Daddy!" the girl cried. Only two or three, she had the ability to run and state her words, but not much else. The man smiled at the sight of the child and adjusted his position in the chair he sat on. The girl tripped over herself on the porch stairs and climbed up her father's leg, resting in his lap._

"_We had a stopover at the park on the way home" the girl in her twenty's, Joko, announced. She had been nanny of the girl for a few months now, and treated her like a daughter; the man nodded and looked down to the child._

"_I got's a flower!" The girl announced, just as a toddler would. She held a thriving sunflower up to her father's face, he took it from her and smelled it._

"_Good choice Kana, it's wonderful" he smiled, picking the girl up and placing her back on the ground, before standing up himself, "I think we should put in the front hallway"_

_The girl clapped her hands together excitedly and jumped inside when her nanny opened the door. "Whippee!" She smiled, hugging her nanny's leg as she went by before she turned to her father._

"_I love you dad"_

* * *

I stood impatiently in Kazuomi's office only the next day, letting myself daydream while he lectured me, on how I had been an idiot with Yuu, and how he was transferring me to Yukari's plan. Hoping that my 'sister' would be a more forceful influence on me.

But still, I zoned out, paying no attention as my father scolded me in his own way, until something _finally_ caught my attention.

"And with the case of the guardians-"

I snapped back to the world, while the director shuffled through pages.

"I understand Yuu failed to directly confront you on the fact that we were expecting you to keep an eye on them." Okay... this was news to me, "And as of a recent discussion with him, I have come to understand that your relationships with them are... Closer, than necessary. I hoped to approach you sooner, but it would seem I'm too late. Things are complicated now."

"That's a light way to put it" I snarled, the director glared at me

"But by the matter that I understand you are graduating in just over a week's time, we have in fact... Replaced you, as such, for the forwarding year at the academy"

"R-replaced?" I whispered, he nodded,

"You remember Kairi? Yukari's younger sibling?" He asked. Of course I remembered her younger, green haired brother, the freakishly organised third grader and his samurai chara. "He will be the fill in after you move on. We have already explained to him the situation with the guardians, he will hopefully complete the job far better than we hoped for you" I gritted my teeth. "But until then Kana, I have to put the situation bluntly. The guardians, need to be taken out, and you, Utau and Ikuto are put into these schools to do the jobs from the inside. I suggest you cease your current relationships, and take a step back, bring them down however you need to"

"Kazuomi I don't think you understand-"

"I understand entirely Kana. And you should too. This is not a game, and I've told you that before."

"But I-"

"Do you understand?"

"They're my frie-"

"Taken out, Kana. Do, you, under-stand?" he asked more sternly, pressing a button on his desk to open the door. I immediately walked through the frame without another word, until I was out of sight.

"I hate you"

* * *

**Kana, eleven:**

_Kana twisted and turned uncomfortably in front of the full-length mirror, pulling at places on her dress, which her nanny, Joko, would soon pull back. It was the day of her father's wedding, and unlike most children, Kana wasn't happy, or sad... She was just... There._

"_Kana-chan, stay still or the bobby pins going straight through your head" Joko warned sarcastically. Kana stood as still as possibly for a bored eleven-year-old while her nanny finished her hair. "There" she sighed, "You look as pretty as the picture". Joko held up a picture of a young flower girl in a magazine whom Kana, and her step-sister Utau, were both meant to resemble. Kana knew Utau would pull the look off better, more for the fact that she actually _was_ the model in the magazine._

"_I don't like it" she said, tugging down on one of the sleeves. Something ripped but it made no difference to the appearance._

"_Kana be careful! Your stepmom looked everywhere for those dresses, they're priceless! It's very important to her!" he nanny warned,_

"_Yeah, important to someone else... It always is" she hissed, putting the sleeve back. Her nanny looked at her, like she knew something was wrong, and knelt down to her level. Kana sighed in defeat "why can't dad marry mum?" She asked sadly, Joko didn't point out that she didn't actually know who her mum was._

"_Because he wants to marry Souko" she patted Kana's head,_

"_No he doesn't!" She protested "And Souko doesn't want to marry him either, all she does is sit around the house all day and cry, it took dad years to get her to marry him properly!" She yelled, sitting in a huff _

"_Kana, this is nothing. Utau and Ikuto are already legally signed as your siblings and you all live together when you visit on weekends. It's going to be exactly the same" Joko smiled at her, but Kana pouted._

"_Stupid father, why does everything have to be want he wants!?" She muttered._

"_Kana, don't speak like that, please" Kana and Joko both immediately looked up, Kana first laying eyes on a small black thing floating in midair. She pursed her lips together and locked eyes with the thing._

"_What are _you_ doing here again?" She said bitterly, the thing flinched and Joko tutted._

"_I thought we explained this to her" She said to the thing who nodded in agreement, "Ume is your guardian chara Kana, you're would be self" she explained, again._

"_I know! So why's she always bossing me around!? I don't wanna be a bossy emo." While Joko closed her eyes in frustration Kana took the chance to pull down both the sleeves on her puffy dress, Ume hit her on the arm._

"_Kana, no" Ume scolded her like a dog. Kana waved her hand in the air,_

"_Go away!" She whined as Joko lifted her head and checked her watch, she swore to herself about the time and pulled Kana into the car, driving insanely fast to the ceremony._

* * *

_The reception wasn't much, it wasn't terrible, per say, but it wasn't special either, it was just a small party with cake Kana refused to touch._

_Through the night, she watched her father dance with her new stepmom, they talked and very rarely chuckled, it made her sick to look at them for too long. Sometimes she would look over to where Utau held her brother in an arm-lock, spinning him and puling herself close to him, each time he tried to escape, Utau would just make her grip tighter._

_Finally, there was a few seconds break between songs, and Utau muttered about going to the bathroom. As soon as the door closed behind her, the music started again and Kana found Ikuto by her side._

"_Wanna dance?" He held out his hand and Kana didn't budge._

"_I don't dance" she refused, Ikuto shrugged and took a seat next to her. Ume still sat on the table and tapped Kana on the arm,_

"_Kana, it's rude to refuse a dance" she hissed. Kana glared at her,_

"_Why are you still here?" She hissed back, seeing Ikuto's attention to their conversation. Occasionally, Kana swore she saw a tiny cat-like thing floating around Ikuto's head, a bit like hers, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen tonight._

"_You really should be nicer to her" Ikuto said naturally, "She's you're would be self you know"_

"_I know!" Kana yelled, being told the same thing for the twentieth or so time. What she didn't understand was why her father and her stepmom couldn't seem to be able see the tiny black thing, while Joko, Ikuto and Utau could. She looked down to her flower-basket, completely empty aside from two eggs which sat inside, the dark purple and black striped one which Ume came out of, and the lavender and white one, which hadn't budged yet._

"_The other one hasn't hatched yet?" Ikuto asked, noticing Kana's gaze, she shook her head a mumbled a 'nope.'_

"_Whatever me it is, I hope it's the part that wants to stop this thing nagging me!" She hissed, glaring at Ume who was shaking a little in fear._

_Ikuto looked deeply at his step-sister for a moment, when he could suddenly hear heels behind him, and someone pounced on his back. He groaned dejectedly,_

"_You can't escape Ikuto!" Utau growled, pulling her brother back onto the dance-floor, Kana watched happily as they spun around again and again. Then she bent down to pick the egg up, studying its shell carefully._

"_Who are you?" _

* * *

**This was not a filler, this was important, just to anyone who wanted to know ;)**

**So 1) I outlined the characters past relationships (writing the wedding one was fun! But the one with Kana and Kazuomi... That was just awkward for me) and 2) In case you didn't catch it, I ruled out having to write about episodes 18-25 by putting her on 'clean up duty' for the next week. Yes, I know, I'm lazy, but that would be another like... 10 chapters and I'm getting close to more main parts of the story.**

**Thanks so, so, so much for reviews and to sharingansupergirl (I'm uber sorry if I spelled that wrong) for the PM, it was so great! Thank you! And to Sweet Nightmare's Good Byes you have reviewed like, nearly every chapter and I love you for that!**

**-J**

**PS. Next chapter is based on episode 26, so if you haven't seen it... well... see it**


	14. Author's Note it's not a bad thing!

**Dear Readers!**

Okay so it's been like... A while, I don't really know. But if you didn't pick it up, I haven't updated for a while. You see, it's this little demon called 'writers block' and I figured, _hey this'll go away in like... A week, I'll be fine_. But guess what? It didn't! So I've decided on one painful and hopefully 'writers-block-curing' process. A process, which might I add, was just _slightly_ stolen from the idea of Sharingansupergirl. I am going to _read over my writing_ –shudders- and _fix it up_ –sighs for a really long time-. This, I hope, will kick start me in writing my new chapter which I have started, deleted, and started again many, many, many, many times.  
So here's what I'm saying.

I solemnly swear to re-update chapters every Saturday (or it might be Friday for some people, or Sunday... I'm not good at time changes). So I will fix up flaws, and touch up characters etc... But I will update! And if I don't, you all have every right to nag me with comments. And since there are only, what, like 14 chapters? I'll probably have the newest one up soon... hopefully. It's just that, I know where I'm going to go in this story, I've actually written the last chapter, or most of it, but I haven't really totally thought about how to _get_ there...

But I will update, I promise. And much love goes out, to all that have ever reviewed and favourited and anything else you can do. Also to Soccer girl for my first ever review! And Sharingansupergirl, please, please, please keep up your stories, coz I lovee them!

Xoxo

_Faking-Sweet _(More commonly known as J)

PS- I updated a bio about Kana on my profile. It's written from her P.V.O and explains more about her. But if you haven't read all my chapters (which you should have!!) then it _will_ have spoilers in it.


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